Leading indicators went up in September

The Conference Board’s index of leading indicators rose 0.3% in September after declining over the previous five months. September’s index gain comes on the heels of a revised 0.9% loss in August and a 0.7% decline in July. The 0.3% decrease matched the expectations of economists surveyed by Briefing.com Inc. of Chicago. The six indicators that were in positive territory include real money supply, consumer expectations, interest rate spread, the index of supplier deliveries, manufacturers' new orders for non-defense capital goods and manufacturers' new orders for consumer goods and materials. These positive trends helped offset the four negative indicators: building permits, stock prices, initial claims for unemployment insurance and the average work week in manufacturing, according to the monthly report from the Conference Board of New York.