Word: index
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...trauma may grow much worse. The Commerce Department reported last week that its index of leading economic indicators, which predicts future business trends, fell a steep 1.8% in October. Most forecasters, including Murray Weidenbaum, President Reagan's chief economic adviser, believe that unemployment will rise to about 9% before it eases next year, when business picks up again. That would equal the postwar record high set during the severe 1973-75 recession...
...first tip-off should come from the book's dust jacket, which features two Catholic clergymen praising the book's analysis. The Catholic Church, of course, hardly has a reputation for its graceful acceptance of criticism. Kind words from people who were still publishing an Index of acceptable books after World War II should perk a few suspicions. And as it turns out, Nichols is an avowedly sympathetic critic, very much intrigued by the faith, and himself married to a Catholic. He is on good terms with much of the Vatican, and indeed many of his anecdotes begin with...
...some time. Polls conducted by the Conference Board, a Manhattan business-study group, show that Americans are wary about the economy and in no mood to spend bushels of money on Christmas, let alone on such big-ticket items as automobiles and major appliances. The board's index of consumer confidence plummeted from 82 in August to 69 in October. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that three of five Americans will cut back on Christmas gifts this year...
Businessmen sound almost perversely cheerful, even while reporting falling orders, production and profits. The reason: they can at last foresee a significant drop in inflation. The Consumer Price Index in September was still rising at a double-digit pace. But producer (wholesale) prices for "intermediate" goods such as textiles and steel showed no rise at all in October, the first time that had happened in six years. Prices for raw materials such as cotton and coal actually dropped a bit for the third straight month. Interest rates were sliding too: major banks last week cut the prime rate (on loans...
...received still more bad news about the state of the American economy. Not only has the U.S., by the President's own admission, dropped into its second recession in 15 months, but the business dip may be both deeper and longer than Reagan predicted. The Government's index of leading economic indicators, which is supposed to portend future business trends, showed a sharp 2.7% drop in September, the biggest decline in 17 months. And, to make the situation worse, the Administration's top economic advisers have begun to quarrel among themselves over who is to blame...