The Conference Board(R) France Business Cycle Indicators(SM)

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board reports today that the leading index for France declined 0.3 percent and the coincident index increased 0.2 percent in February.

LEADING INDICATORS. Two of the seven components of the leading index increased in February. The positive contributors to the index -- in order from the largest positive contributor to the smallest -- are building permits (residential), and the yield spread. The negative contributors to the index -- in order from the largest negative contributor to the smallest -- are the inverted new unemployment claims, the stock price index, the ratio of the deflator of manufacturing value added to unit labor cost for manufacturing*, and production expectations. Industrial new orders remained unchanged in February.

With the decrease of 0.3 percent in February, the leading index now stands at 128.5 (1990=100). Based on revised data, this index declined 0.5 percent in January and declined 0.6 percent in December. During the six-month span through February, the leading index decreased 1.8 percent, and one of the seven components increased (diffusion index, six-month span equals 14.3 percent).

COINCIDENT INDICATORS. All four components of the coincident index increased in February. The positive contributors to the index were employment*, personal consumption, wage and salaries*, and industrial production.

With the increase of 0.2 percent in February, the coincident index now stands at 123.3 (1990=100). Based on revised data, this index increased 0.1 percent in January and increased 0.2 percent in December. During the six- month period through February, the coincident index increased 0.6 percent, with four of the four series making a positive contribution (diffusion index, six-month span equals 100.0 percent).

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This role is part of a long tradition of research and education that stretches back to the compilation of the first continuous measure of the cost of living in the United States in 1919. In 1995 The Conference Board assumed responsibility for computing the composite indexes from the U.S. Department of Commerce. The Conference Board now produces business cycle indexes for the U.S., Australia, France, German, Korea, Japan, Mexico and the U.K. To subscribe to any of these indexes, please contact Customer Service at 212-339-0345 or email indicators@conference-board.org.

SOURCE The Conference Board