The Conference Board, a global business and research association, announced that its Leading Economic Index (LEI) for the US increased by 0.4% in January, after a 0.5% increase in December and a 0.3% increase in November.

The LEI is a composite index measuring the overall strength of a country's economic activity.

This fourth consecutive gain for the LEI, coupled with the news of faster job creation in the US, may suggest that the country is finally experiencing a stronger recovery.

Conference Board economist Ataman Ozyildirim believes that this may be the case, as the LEI’s increase in January was led “not only by improving financial and credit indicators, but also rising average workweek in manufacturing”.