leading indicators

American  

[lee-ding] / ˈli dɪŋ /

plural noun

Economics.

1. data that reflect current economic conditions and can suggest future developments or fluctuations in the nation's economy: issued, usually monthly, by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in the Commerce Department.

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Example Sentences

Even before the Iran conflict broke out, Moody’s machine-learning-based leading indicators had reflected a 49% chance of a recession beginning in the U.S. within the next 12 months.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 16, 2026

For deposit insurance, such a market would almost certainly set rates that reflect leading indicators of risk, such as rapid asset growth, rather than lagging indicators, such as the growth in a bank’s non-performing loans.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

Of the states that are likely to report results fairly rapidly, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan will be seen as leading indicators.

From Salon • Nov. 5, 2024

The Reuters Tankan indexes, which can serve as leading indicators for the Bank of Japan tankan surveys, are calculated by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic respondents from optimistic ones.

From Reuters • Aug. 15, 2023

Housing detracted, on average, around 1% from real GDP growth between the second and fourth quarters of 2022, but the leading indicators of weakness showed up earlier.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 9, 2023