CLIs continue to strengthen in most major economies

The OECD Composite leading indicators (CLIs), designed to anticipate turning points in economic activity relative to trend, continue to strengthen in most major economies.

In the United States, the CLI continues to increase at a steady pace, driven by the expansion in the consumer confidence. In Japan, Canada and the euro-area as a whole, particularly in Germany and Italy, the CLIs now point to a steady increase. In France, and now in the United Kingdom, the CLIs signal stable growth.

Among major emerging economies, the CLIs for India, Russia and the manufacturing sector of China continue to expand at a steady pace, but in Brazil the CLI points to slowing growth.

The CLIs should continue to be interpreted with care as the changing measures to contain Covid-19 and the progress of vaccination campaigns are likely to engender higher than usual fluctuations in the underlying components and result in possible revisions. As always, the magnitude of CLI should be regarded as an indication of the strength of the signal rather than as a measure of the degree of growth in economic activity.

See the full release.