The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain Declines

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Jan 13, 2012, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain declined 1.1 percent in November to 104.4 (2004 = 100), following a 0.2 percent decline in October, and a 0.3 percent decline in September.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, was unchanged in November at 100.5 (2004 = 100), following no change in October, and a 0.1 percent decrease in September.

The Conference Board LEI for Spain continued to decline this month, amid widespread weaknesses among its components. As a result, its six-month growth rate is now at its lowest level since 2009. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Spain has remained unchanged for the past two months, and its six-month growth rate stayed slightly negative. Taken together, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that the current contraction in general economic activity should continue in the near term.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain
The composite economic indexes are the key elements in an analytic system designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle. The leading and coincident economic indexes are essentially composite averages of several individual leading or coincident indicators. They are constructed to summarize and reveal common turning point patterns in economic data in a clearer and more convincing manner than any individual component – primarily because they smooth out some of the volatility of individual components.

The six components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for Spain include:

Capital Equipment Component of Industrial Production
Contribution to Euro M2
Stock Price Index
Long term Government Bond Yield
Order Books Survey
Job Placings

For more information including full press release and technical notes: http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=9

For more information about The Conference Board global business cycle indicators: http://www.conference-board.org/data/bci.cfm

This month's release incorporates annual benchmark revisions to the composite economic indexes, These regular benchmark revisions bring the indexes up-to-date with revisions in the source data. The revisions do not change the cyclical properties of the indexes. The indexes are updated throughout the year, but only for the previous six months. Data revisions that fall outside of the moving six-month window are incorporated when the benchmark revision is made and the entire histories of the indexes are recomputed. As a result, the revised indexes and their month-over-month changes will no longer be directly comparable to those issued prior to the benchmark revision.

For more information, please visit our website at http://www.conference-board.org/data/bci.cfm or contact [email protected].

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is an 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. www.conference-board.org.

Summary Table of Composite Indexes
	2011			6-month
	Sep	Oct	Nov	May to Nov
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	105.8 r	105.6 r	104.4
Percent Change	-0.3 r	-0.2	-1.1	-2.8
Diffusion	25.0	33.3	8.3	0.0

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	100.5 p	100.5 p	100.5 p
Percent Change	-0.1 p	0.0 p	0.0 p	-0.3 p
Diffusion	30.0	50.0	70.0	20.0

n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2004
Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved