The Conference Board Launches Leading Economic Index for China

NEW YORK, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- On May 17, 2010, The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for China joins the global portfolio of directly comparable leading indicators produced by the non-profit research and business membership organization.

Tested and refined over four years, the China LEI is a unique and reliable metric that shows the current status of the Chinese economy and its pattern of growth over the short term, and signals approaching turning points. Strict application of the fully transparent methodology of The Conference Board Business Cycle Indicators program has successfully addressed many caveats about emerging market data.

Plotted back to 1986, the China LEI reliably signaled the Chinese slowdown of 2008 and the recession of the late 1980s. A corresponding index, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for China, measures current economic conditions on a monthly basis, helping to pinpoint cycles' beginnings and ends and illustrating current growth and the intensity of economic activity.

The Conference Board also produces LEIs for the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, the Euro Area, Japan, Australia, Korea, and Mexico. Each LEI aggregates a group of carefully selected indicators that measure different aspects of economic activity in their respective countries or economic areas. Selection of the component indicators follows an approach developed at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) that takes into consideration economic relevance, cyclical timing, conformity, consistency, smoothness, timeliness, and statistical adequacy.

The Conference Board has produced LEIs since 1996, when it was selected by the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis to assume responsibility for the leading, coincident, and lagging indicators for the United States.

The China LEI is developed and produced by The Conference Board Business Cycle Indicators team, and is part of the research program of The Conference Board China Center for Economics and Business in Beijing.

The Conference Board will publish the China LEI on May 17, 2010, at 10 a.m. Beijing time (GMT+8) and monthly thereafter. All LEIs are released monthly at 10 a.m. in the time zone of the area they cover. Releases are posted and archived, with a calendar, at www.conference-board.org/economics/indicators.cfm.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States.

SOURCE The Conference Board