The numbers show that the leading index for the economy fell again in June, making it four months in a row that it has gone down. This shows that U.S. growth has slowed since the beginning of the year.
The Conference Board, which is privately owned, said that the index fell 0.2% last month. Before briefly going up in February, the index had been going down for two years in a row.
The leading index is a tool used to find out if the economy is getting better or worse. The Wall Street Journal asked economists to predict a 0.3% drop.
Since the pandemic, though, the index has not been as correct.
In June, the leading index went down mainly because more people filed for unemployment, fewer people ordered goods from factories, and people had less faith in the economy.
In the big picture, high interest rates and persistent inflation have made the economy less lively this year. However, it is still growing steadily, and there are no signs of a coming recession.
In the future: “The data from June show that the economy is likely to keep slowing down in the coming months,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, senior manager of business-cycle indicators at the Conference Board.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and the S&P 500 (SPX) both went up on Thursday.
