OECD composite leading indicators show stable economic signs

PARIS -- The composite leading indicators (CLIs) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) pointed to stable growth in members where economic activities were recovering at different patterns, the Paris-based organization said on Tuesday.

The CLI is designed to provide early signals of turning points in business cycles showing the fluctuation of the economic activity around its long term potential level.

The indicators "continue to recover from the COVID-19 crisis lows in most major economies, but the rate of change differs across countries," the OECD said in a statement.

The CLI for all OECD economies was slightly up at 99.1 points while indicators of the major seven economies -- the United States, Japan, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Britain -- pointed to stable growth momentum.

Indicators show moderate growth signs in the 19-member eurozone, while those of Britain pointed to continued slowdown due to uncertainty over a post-Brexit trade deal, which is under negotiation.

Among major emerging economies, the CLI for the manufacturing sector of China is improving steadily. This is also the assessment for Brazil. In India, the CLI continues to rise but at a moderating pace, while in Russia growth of the CLI has stabilized, said the OECD.

"Whilst the impact of renewed COVID-19 containment measures has been largely incorporated into the forward-looking indicators used to construct the CLI estimates, the more recent positive news concerning vaccine developments may not be. As such, this month's CLIs should continue to be interpreted with care," it said.