WASHINGTON - The US economy is losing some momentum with an index of future activity falling for a fourth straight month, the Conference Board said Thursday.
The private research group said its index of leading indicators fell 0.2 percent in April after a downward revised drop of 0.6 percent in March.
The April fall was in line with Wall Street forecasts.
"The leading economic indicators show continued economic growth, but a definite loss of forward momentum," said Conference Board chief economist Ken Goldstein.
"The decline in the leading index indicates that the economy is losing some steam," he said.
In another release, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region slowed sharply in May.
The Philly Fed index fell to 7.3 from 25.3 in April, the lowest since June 2003. It was the largest one-month decline since January 2001.
Earlier in the week, the New York Fed said its Empire state index fell to minus 11.1 in May, the first negative reading in two years.
The Philly Fed and Empire state indexes are seen as providing good clues about the state of national manufacturing.
Wall Street had been fretting about a "soft patch" in the world's largest economy after a slew of disappointing numbers in March.
But those fears appeared to have been laid to rest last week when retail sales figures for April showed the highest gain for seven months, going up 1.4 percent on the month.
In a separate report Thursday, the Labor Department said that claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 20,000 in the week ended May 14 to 321,000.
The department could identify no special factors behind the decrease, which was larger than forecast. Economists were expecting a fall in initial claims to about 331,000.
The mixed picture painted by the latest numbers gave ammunition to both the bulls and bears.
Wachovia economist Jason Schenker stressed the negatives, noting that the Conference Board index had posted its biggest year-on-year fall since September 2001.
"Although we do not believe that this move in the index is indicative of near-term recession, it does not look pretty," he said.
05/19/2005 17:22 GMT