(RTTNews) - The Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing a modest decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of June.
The report said the leading economic index edged down by 0.2 percent in June after falling by a revised 0.4 percent in May.
Economists had expected the leading economic index to dip by 0.3 percent compared to the 0.5 percent decline originally reported for the previous month.
"The US LEI continued to trend down in June, but the contraction was smaller than in the past three months," said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board.
She added, "The decline continued to be fueled by gloomy consumer expectations, weak new orders, negative interest rate spread, and an increased number of initial claims for unemployment."
Meanwhile, the Conference Board said the leading economic index fell by 1.9 percent in the first half of the year, a smaller decrease compared to the 2.9 percent contraction over the second half of last year.
"Due to the smaller month-on-month rate of decline, the LEI's long-term growth has become less negative, pointing to a slow recovery," said Zabinska-La Monica. "Taken together, June's data suggest that economic activity is likely to continue to lose momentum in the months ahead."
She continued, "We currently forecast that cooling consumer spending will push US GDP growth down to around 1 percent (annualized) in Q3 of this year."
The report also said the coincident economic index rose by 0.3 percent in June after climbing by 0.4 percent in May.
The lagging economic index also crept up by 0.1 percent in June after slipping by 0.2 percent in the previous month.
