Nebraska's Leading Economic Indicator drops for 1st time in 6 months

Released on 08/15/2014, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lincoln, Neb., August 15th, 2014 —

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska fell by 0.75 percent in July, its first drop in six months.

            "Results suggest that the rate of economic growth in Nebraska may slow in early 2015 after strong growth in the second half of 2014," said University of Nebraska-Lincoln economist Eric Thompson, director of the Bureau of Business Research. "It will be critical to monitor leading indicator values over the next few months to see if this trend continues."

            The Leading Economic Indicator for Nebraska is produced by faculty and students in the Department of Economics and Bureau of Business Research within the UNL College of Business Administration. It is a composite of six components which predict future economic growth: single-family building permits, airline passenger counts, initial unemployment claims, manufacturing hours, the value of the U.S. dollar, and business expectations gathered from the Survey of Nebraska Business.

            "Business expectations remained positive in July but single-family building permits and manufacturing hours both fell during the month, while initial unemployment claims rose," Thompson said.

            The full Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators report and a Technical Report describing the indicators are available at the Bureau of Business Research website, http://www.bbr.unl.edu.

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