A private measure of US economic prospects issued on Thursday rose in December, marking the sixth consecutive month of improvement and indicating the possibility of growth through 2014.
The New York-based Conference Board’s index of leading economic indicators (LEI) rose 0.1 per cent to 99.4 in December, based on a 2004 mark of 100.
“Despite month-to-month volatility in the final quarter of 2013, the US LEI continues to point to gradually strengthening economic conditions through early 2014,” Conference Board economist Ataman Ozyildirim said.
He warned however that consumer expectations for business conditions and residential construction continued to weigh on growth.
The leading indicators were up a revised 1 per cent in November.
The 10 components of the leading economic indicators include Government-generated data on average hours worked in manufacturing and average weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance, which are tracked by the Bureau of Labour Statistics.