The Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators for Mexico slipped two-tenths of a percentage point in December 2004, the most recent month for which data are available. December's dip follows a three-tenths-percent decline in December. The business research group's leading index for Mexico now stands at 146.7 (1990=100).
"It is too early to conclude that the rising trend of the leading index underway since late-2003 has ended because of these two consecutive declines," says the Conference Board, adding that "the recent behavior of the leading index still suggests that the [Mexican] economy should continue to grow in the near term, at about its trend rate."