The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators for Japan fell three-tenths of a percentage point in April, the latest month for which data are available. Its leading index for Japan now stands at 98.5 (1990=100).
The index was unchanged in March and rose one-tenth of a point in February. During the six-month period ending in April, the leading index for Japan fell one-tenth of a percentage point.
"The recent behavior of the leading index suggests the [Japanese] economy will continue growing, but more slowly than in the first quarter," says the Conference Board, a New York-based business research group. Japan's inflation-adjusted GDP grew at an annual rate of 5.3% during the first three months of this year.
