A positive index number projects positive economic growth for the next 6 months. The August 2012 was 0.9 versus 0.8 for July and 0.9 for June.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has released the leading indexes for the 50 states for August 2012. The indexes are a six-month forecast of the state coincident indexes (also released by the Bank). Thirty-five state coincident indexes are projected to grow over the next six months, while 15 are projected to decrease. For comparison purposes, the Philadelphia Fed has also developed a similar leading index for our U.S. coincident index, which is projected to grow 0.9 percent over the next six months.
This index is subject to backward revision.