Leading Indicators Plummet 0.6% in April ;Decline Is Biggest In 2 Years; Economic Growth Seen Slowing
The government said yesterday its main economic forecasting gauge plummeted 0.6 percent in April. It was the biggest decline in two years and provided evidence, private economists said, that the U.S. economy is slowing down.</br></br>The Commerce Department's Index of Leading Indicators posted its biggest setback since a 0.8 percent fall in April 1985. The setback followed a revised 0.8 percent increase in March.</br></br>While analysts said they did not believe the huge drop signaled an impending recession, they said the index has been flashing signals of slower growth since the beginning of the year.</br></br>"The economy does not look too good right now," said Michael Penzer, senior economist at Bank of America in San Francisco. "Almost every piece of information we have had in the past two weeks suggests the economy was barely moving along in April."</br></br>Economic growth, as measured by the gross national product, spurted to a 4.4 percent annual rate in the January-March quarter, the fastest pace in almost three years.