A widely watched measure of future economic activity rose in November as fewer people filed for jobless benefits, suggesting the nation's economy may grow moderately into the spring, a private research group said Thursday.
The Conference Board said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators, which tries to gauge future economic growth, rose 0.5 percent in November.
Much of last month's gains were tied to a drop in the number of applicants seeking unemployment benefits, which spiked soon after Hurricane Katrina devastated U.S. Gulf States.
The Conference Board's measure of current economic activity, the coincident index, rose 0.2 percent in November, following a 0.2 percent increase in October. The research group said that over the last six months, industrial production and employment have been the engines of growth in its coincident index.
"The 0.5 (percent rise) is a solid gain. It is a nice rise," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial.
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