N. Ky./Cincy economic index shows gain - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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percent in April, the first increase in 12 That’s the word in “Northern Kentucky/Greater Cincinnati by the the monthly newsletter of the Center for Economic Analysis and Developmenftat . The LEI gauges economic activity in the next three tosix months. It stood at 87.3 following a 0.3 declinre in March and a 0.9 decline in February. The nationall LEI related by the Conferences Board increased 1 percentin April, which was the first gain in that index in seven months.
“The locakl index has been generally fallinyg since the middle of but the pace of its decline has slowedc substantially inrecent months,” according to the article written by senioer research economist Feng Guo and Janet Harrah, the center’se senior director. “The average workweek, local stock building permits, local purchasing manager index and national LEI all contributed positivelu to the indexin April, more than offsettinb the negative contributions from initial unemployment claims and in-bound air freight.” The Northern Kentucky/Greaterr Cincinnati Current Conditions Index fell 0.6 percentr from the preceding month to 93.3 in April.
Driven by continued declines in employmentand non-residential electricitg usage, the index has now declinesd for 12 months in a row. The seasonallt adjusted unemployment rate roseto 9.2 percenrt in April, up from March’d 8.8 percent. And, the article noted, job lossees are likely to continue after Chrysler and Generao Motors filed for bankruptcy and terminated relationshipxs withlocal dealers. The only positive impact on the CCI was the increaswe in the CVG airtransportatiom index. The new lower air fare structurew put in place by atthe Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Internationalp Airport was reflected in the rise in local traffid in April.
Based on the announcement that the company will reactivate its CVG facilittyby mid- to late summer, the air transportation indexx is expected to rise through the rest of the Guo and Harrah wrote. “While caution needs to be exercisef about drawing conclusions from just asingle month’s wortuh of data, this is definitelyh good news at a time when there hasn’t been much positivs news about the local economy,” they “Taken together, the behavior of the composite indexz suggests that the contraction in economic activityh will continue in the near term, but will likely becom less severe in the upcoming months.” The center will release its newsletteer Friday.
That’s when it will be available onthe center’ds web site .