The U.S. economy will be expanding at a sluggish pace for some time to come, a widely watched index of future business activity showed Thursday.
The Conference Board said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.2 percent in September after a 0.3 percent increase in August and a 0.6 percent rise in July.
“The slow pace in the LEI suggests a growing chance that this sluggish economy is going to be here for a while,” said Conference Board economist Ataman Ozyildirim in a statement.
Another Conference Board economist, Ken Goldstein, said there was a chance that falling confidence among consumers and businesses raises the chance the economy could stall and even slip into recession.
“The probability of a downturn starting over the next few months remains at about 50 percent,” he said.