A gauge designed to predict the U.S. economy’s future health increased for a fourth month in May, the Conference Board said Thursday, providing further evidence that the economy is gaining strength after a harsh winter caused activity to go into reverse.
The Conference Board said that its index of leading indicators increased 0.5 percent in May, an improvement from a revised 0.3 percent gain in April. The strength was broadly based with positive contributions from all the financial and labor components of the index.
Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said that the economy continued to gain traction last month. He said that the biggest challenge going forward will be to sustain a rise in income growth to drive consumer spending.