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Leading indicators rise 0.1% in November:

Slow growth likely to continue, but not get slower, researchers say...

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:02 AM ET Dec 21, 2006

http://tinyurl.com/th37c

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Slow economic growth is likely to continue in the near term, the Conference Board said Thursday as it reported that the index of leading economic indicators rose 0.1% in November, the third straight increase.

The increase was exactly as predicted by economists polled by MarketWatch.

The index rose a downwardly revised 0.1% in October and 0.4% in September.

Four of the 10 leading indicators increased in November: money supply, vendor performance, core capital goods orders and stock prices. Five indicators contracted: jobless claims, building permits, the interest rate spread, the factory workweek, and consumer expectations. Orders for consumer goods held steady.

Over the past six months, the index is up 0.2%, with half of the 10 indicators growing. The index is designed to foreshadow turning points in the economy six to nine months ahead.

"The slower economy of the second half of 2006 might continue into the first half of 2007," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist for the private research group, in a statement. "But it may not get any slower."

Earlier Thursday, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product increased at a 2% annual rate in the third quarter, down from the 2.6% in the second quarter and revised slightly lower from an earlier estimate of 2.2% for the third quarter.

Goldstein said the economy "retains considerable strength." Interest rates are low, unemployment is low, and inflation is low. And "the housing slump does not appear to be deepening."

For the economy to slow further from here, "something else must develop," Goldstein said.

The index of coincident indicators increased 0.2% and the index of lagging indicators increased 0.5%

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch.