Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: October 18, 2013

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) rose by 0.95% during September 2013. The increase in the LEI-N, which predicts economic growth in the state six months in the future, signals that the Nebraska economy will grow at a modest pace over the remainder of the year and in early 2014. Most of the increase in the LEI-N was due to a significant drop in initial unemployment claims in Nebraska during September. This drop in Nebraska claims followed a national trend. Among other components of the leading indicator, building permits and airline passenger counts both rose. There also was a decline in the value of the U.S. dollar, which is positive for the state’s exporters. Among negative trends, both manufacturing hours and business expectations declined during September. Finally, the authors note that it was not possible to include a September value for the CEI-N in this report. Data for several components of the CEI-N was not available as the report was prepared, due to the federal government shutdown