The Leading Economic Index was up 0.3% in May following a revised 0.2% increase in April, first reported as a 0.3% gain, the Conference Board reported Thursday.
The coincident index gained 0.1% in May after an unrevised 0.3% rise in April, while the lagging index was up 0.1% in May, after an unrevised 0.3% rise in April.
The LEI stands at 127.0, the coincident index is at 115.3 and the lagging index is at 124.2 The LEI has a baseline of 100, which reflects the level in 2010.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters predicted LEI would be up 0.4% in the month.
“The U.S. LEI continued on its upward trend in May, suggesting the economy is likely to remain on, or perhaps even moderately above, its long-term trend of about 2 percent growth for the remainder of the year,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, director of business cycles and growth research at The Conference Board. “The improvement was widespread among the majority of the leading indicators except for housing permits, which declined again. And, the average workweek in manufacturing has recently shown no sign of improvement.”
