"Leading Indicators, Jobless Claims Drop"

[GreenPartyVoter]

WASHINGTON - A gauge of future economic activity fell last month for the first time in more than a year, signaling that the nation's financial recovery lost some steam.

The Conference Board (news - web sites) said Thursday its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators (news - web sites) dropped 0.2 percent in June to 116.2 following rises of 0.4 percent in May, 0.1 percent in April and 0.8 percent in March. Analysts had been expecting the index to remain flat in June.

The first decline since March 2003, the index's June slip was evidence of a rebound that had slowed rather than stalled, analysts said.

"I guess the concern is whether this could turn into a real significant slowdown in the economy," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis. But Sohn believes June was a short-lived "soft patch" and that, barring external shocks such as a terror attack or a sharp rise in energy prices, July's economic data will be stronger.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=5&u=/ap/20040722/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

[LittleApple81]

1. Translation: they manipulate the jobless rate to compensate for

the leading indicators.