February 19, 2016: ECRI's WLI Growth Index Continues To Worsen

ECRI’s WLI Growth Index which forecasts economic growth six months forward – continued its decline in negative territory. This index now spent 30 consecutive weeks in negative territory. ECRI also released its lagging index this week.

Current ECRI WLI Level and Growth Index:

Here is this week’s update on ECRI’s Weekly Leading Index (note – a positive number indicates growth):

ECRI produces a monthly coincident index – a positive number shows increasing inflation pressure. The January number (issued in February) shows slight economic improvement in January.

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ECRI produces a monthly inflation index – a positive number shows increasing inflation pressure.

U.S. Future Inflation Gauge:

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U.S. Inflation Gauge Ticks Up

U.S. inflationary pressures were up in January, as the U.S. future inflation gauge gained to 102.7 from an unrevised 102.3 reading in December, according to data released Friday morning by the Economic Cycle Research Institute.

“The USFIG ticked up in January, but remains far below its 2014 highs,” ECRI Chief Operations Officer Lakshman Achuthan said in a release. “Thus, underlying inflation pressures, while having crept up since last spring, remain fairly subdued.”

ECRI produces a monthly Lagging index. The January’s economy’s rate of growth (released in February) showed the rate of growth was marginally improving.

U.S. Lagging Index: