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American consumers are the most confident they’ve been since 2000. The Conference Board says its consumer confidence index rose to 130.8 in February, highest since November 2000 and up from 124.3 in January. The business research group’s index measures consumers’ assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the next six months. They feel better about today’s economy than they have since March 2001. Their outlook also improved. Tax cuts passed into law last year are starting to show up in workers’ paychecks. “As people slowly absorb the details of the tax reform package, opinion polls suggest that it is...

China could overtake America as the world’s biggest economy within two years, according to a leading financial think tank. As growth in the U.S. slows down to a virtual standstill, China’s economy is revving up into double digits, the Conference Board said in a report published today. In purely dollar terms, it is going to take much longer than two years for China’s $5 trillion economy to match up to the $15 trillion output in the US. Even if the Chinese can sustain their current growth, it would take another ten years.

NEW YORK, July 22, 2010…The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the U.S. declined 0.2 percent in June to 109.8, following a 0.5 percent increase in May, and a 0.1 percent decline in April...

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - American's economic recovery "is very near," a report by a private research organization concluded Monday. The assertion by the Conference Board was based on improvements in 10 leading economic indicators measured by the group. Five of the indicators improved in August, while two had no change. The indicators are used to forecast economic fortunes up to nine months into the future. An index that measures current activity, the coincident index, was unchanged for the month after being revised to show a 0.1 percent increase in July. The indicators have been rising since April after being in...

I think most people, whether they know anything about the science involved, have decided that more than twenty years of lies about "global warming" have failed to demonstrate it is happening or likely to occur any time soon. Most have concluded, quite sensibly, that the Earth is warmed by the Sun and that there isn’t a damned thing we could do about it, if it either warmed or cooled. Moreover, movies showing the Statue of Liberty drowning beneath the waves are about as believable as the "Planet of the Apes" film that showed it washed up on a beach. So...

With crude oil near $50 a barrel, consumer confidence could be in for a big hit. James E. Glassman, senior United States economist at J. P. Morgan, thinks otherwise. "My gasoline station manager didn't know that the price of oil was near $50 a barrel," Mr. Glassman said. "He just knows what the oil company charges him for gasoline when the delivery truck pulls up each night." That price has been dropping. The national average price of a gallon of midgrade gasoline reached $2.155 in May. It has since dropped to $1.97, according to the Department of Energy. Consumer confidence...

The three of the four biggest reports that economists look for in evaluating the strength and trends of the economy are the monthly Conference Board report, the ISM report and the employment reports from the Department of Labor are based on current data. The fourth, Consumer Confidence, tends to lag behind the other economic news, similar to jobs creation, but does not lag as much. Consumer Confidence in April was up. ============================================= The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, which was unchanged last month, rose in April. The Index now stands at 92.9 (1985=100), up from 88.5 in March. The Present...

U.S. leading indicators up 0.3 percent in November Thursday December 18, 10:04 am ET WASHINGTON, Dec 18 (Reuters) - A closely watched gauge of future U.S. economic activity posted a second consecutive gain in November, suggesting the economy will gather strength in the new year, a private research firm said on Thursday. The Conference Board said its index of leading indicators rose 0.3 percent in November to 114.2, after an upwardly revised 0.5 percent increase in October. The November gain matched expectations on Wall Street. The leading index foreshadows economic activity in the next three to six months.

U.S. Oct leading indicators rise 0.4 pct Thursday November 20, 10:05 am ET WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Conference Board index of leading, coincident and lagging indicators (1996=100) and percent changes from previous months, seasonally adjusted. Indicators: Index Oct Sept (Prev) Aug (Prev) Leading 113.6 0.4 unch -0.2 0.4 0.4 Coincident 116.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 unch unch Lagging 97.5 0.2 -0.6 -0.5 -0.1 unch Following are components of the index of leading indicators with net contributions to monthly changes. Oct Sept (Prev) Aug (Prev) Average Workweek 0.00 0.14 0.10 0.05 0.05 Initial Jobless Claims 0.17 -0.01 -0.01 -0.03 -0.03...

The Conference Board's Leading Index Rises for Fourth Straight Month, But Coincident Index StallsThursday September 18, 10:01 am ET NEW YORK, Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board reports today that the Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased by 0.4% in August, after an upwardly revised 0.6% gain in July, a 0.4% increase in June and a 1.1% rise in May. With this rise, the level now stands at 1.4% above the previous peak reached in May 2002."The economy is improving, although the road will likely remain bumpy," says Conference Board Economist Ken Goldstein. "While the Coincident Index was...

The Conference Board's U.S. Leading Index Points to a Better Economy This Fall Thursday August 21, 10:00 am ET NEW YORK, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board announced today that the U.S. Leading Economic Index increased 0.4 percent, the Coincident Index increased 0.1 percent, and the Lagging Index increased 0.1 percent in July. The Coincident Index continued to rise very modestly in July. But the Leading Economic Index rose for the fourth straight month, after a weak first quarter of the year. The chief concern last spring was a lack of business confidence and investment. This was related to...

Filed at 2:57 p.m. ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans are growing disgruntled with their jobs, getting fed up not only with bonus plans and promotion policies but even with colleagues, according to a report released on Wednesday. Only about half of the 5,000 households surveyed by the Conference Board, a business-backed research group in New York, said they were happy with their jobs, down from 59 percent in 1995. The drop in job satisfaction came across all ages, incomes and regions of the country. Worker satisfaction with bonuses, promotion policies, educational training programs and fellow employees all fell since...