The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for France increased 0.2 percent in January to 110.4 (2010 = 100), following no change in December, and a 0.1 percent increase in November.
At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for France, a measure of current economic activity, increased 0.1 percent in January to 100.2 (2010 = 100), following a 0.1 percent increase in December, and a 0.1 percent increase in November.
The LEI for France has increased in four out of the past six months, and as a result, its six-month growth rate has improved moderately compared to the first half of 2014. Meanwhile, the CEI has improved only marginally over the past year. Taken together, the composite indexes suggest that the expansion of the economy will continue in the near term, and its pace may even gradually pickup.
The composite economic indexes are the key elements in an analytic system designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle. The leading and coincident economic indexes are essentially composite averages of several individual leading or coincident indicators. They are constructed to summarize and reveal common turning point patterns in economic data in a clearer and more convincing manner than any individual component – primarily because they smooth out some of the volatility of individual components.
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