By Jill Mislinski
The latest Conference Board Leading Economic Index ((LEI)) for June was up 2.0% from the May final figure of 100.0. Here's an excerpt from the technical notes:
The Conference Board LEI for the U.S. increased for a second consecutive month in June, fueled mostly by positive contributions from declining initial claims for unemployment insurance, increasing average hours worked in manufacturing and increasing stock prices. In the first half of 2020, the leading economic index declined 8.4 percent (about a -16.2 percent annual rate), much faster than the slightly negative growth of