'Leading Indicators' Rise Sharply

NPR | By Mark Memmott

Published November 18, 2011 at 10:25 AM EST

An index that's designed to forecast how the economy will be doing in coming months rose a solid 0.9 percent in October from September, the business research group The Conference Board reports. It had risen just 0.1 percent in September and had fallen 0.3 percent in August.

One of the group's economists, Ataman Ozyildirim, says in its report that "the October rebound of the [leading economic index] — largely due to the sharp pick-up in housing permits — suggests that the risk of an economic downturn has receded."

As we said on Wednesday, "though the U.S. faces lots of problems, there are some encouraging signs out there too," and today's reports is another.

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott

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