The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index®(PCI®), issued today by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and Ceridian Corporation, rose 1.1 percent in October after three consecutive months of negative numbers.

Over the past three months, compared to the prior three months, the PCI declined at an annualized rate of 5.8 percent and the PCI remains lower than it was during most of the first half of 2011. "The October data offer some welcome relief from the double-dip fears that were rampant a month ago, but one month does not mean a new trend. Until we get a series of positive months, it remains a she-loves-me, she-loves-me-not economy with bad news followed by good followed by bad," saidEd Leamer, chief economist for the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast.

On a year-over-year basis, the PCI was up 1.3 percent in October compared to the -0.2 percent decrease in the prior month. This contrasts with the trend over the prior four months where the year-over-year change in the PCI was rapidly declining.

"Given the weak PCI, the advance estimate of third quarter GDP growth of 2.5 percent was surprising, but the final estimate may be lower," according to Leamer. "The PCI measures inventories in motion, and it is noteworthy that the inventory component of GDP contributed minus 1.1 percent to the overall 2.5 percent growth rate."

Based on the latest PCI data, our forecast for October Industrial Production is a 0.12 percent increase when the government estimate is released onNovember 16.