The Conference Board Leading Economic Index(LEI) forChinaincreased 0.5 percent in May to 155.0 (2004 = 100), following a 0.1 percent increase in April and a 0.9 percent decline in March. Three of the six components contributed positively to the index in May.

SaysJing Sima, economist for The Conference Board: "The modestly rising trend of the China LEI since the beginning of 2011 continues to point to economic expansion for the rest of the year. In May, weakness in consumer expectations was offset by credit expansion and slightly improving manufacturing activity. However, consumer prices continue to rise rapidly, and growth in retail sales has moderated somewhat compared to last year, suggesting that consumption growth may be weakening as one of the contributors to output growth."

The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index(CEI) forChina, which measures current economic activity, increased 0.5 percent in May to 202.8 (2004 = 100), following a 1.3 percent increase in April and a 1.3 percent increase in March. Four of the five components contributed positively to the index in May.

The Conference Board LEI forChinaaggregates six economic indicators that measure economic activity inChina. Each of the LEI components has proven accurate on its own. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.