U.S. Leading Economic Index Unexpectedly Decreases In January

(RTTNews) - Reversing most of the gains from the previous two months, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing an unexpected decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of January.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index fell by 0.3 percent in January following a revised 0.1 percent uptick in December.

Economists had expected the leading economic index to come in unchanged compared to the 0.1 percent dip originally reported for the previous month.

"Consumers' assessments of future business conditions turned more pessimistic in January, which—alongside fewer weekly hours worked in manufacturing—drove the monthly decline," said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board.

She added, "However, manufacturing orders have almost stabilized after weighing heavily on the Index since 2022, and the yield spread contributed positively for the first time since November 2022."

The report also said the leading economic index recorded a 0.9 percent decline in the six-month period ending January, much smaller than the 1.7 percent slump over the previous six months.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board said the coincident economic index rose by 0.3 percent in January, matching the increase seen in December.

As a result, the coincident economic index rose by 1.0 percent over the six-month period between July 2024 and January 2025, close to the 0.9 percent growth over the previous six months, the repot said.

The lagging economic index also increased by 0.5 percent in January after coming in unchanged in December.

The Conference Board said the lagging economic index's six-month change subsequently turned positive to 0.3 percent growth for the first time since the summer of 2024.