The November State-of-the-Economy Index rose by 0.3%

The November State-of-the-Economy Index rose by 0.3%, indicating that the economy will continue to expand at a good pace. The composite index was positively affected by the rise in imports of consumer goods and imports of inputs in November, and by the rise in industrial production and in the turnover of retail trade and services in October. On the other hand, the decline in exports of goods and the rate of job vacancies in November slowed the rate of increase of the index this month. The index for September was revised downward by 0.12, due in part to the publication of the housing starts data for that month, which indicated a decline. On the other hand, the October index was revised slightly upward (Table 1). Table 2 presents the development of the components of the index in recent months.