Word: indexes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this Orwellian year of 1984, bad news can be good news, at least where the economy is concerned. The Commerce Department announced last week that the index of leading economic indicators dipped .8% in July after falling 1.3% in June. The report marked the first time since early 1982 that the closely watched barometer of future economic activity has dropped in two consecutive months, and thus suggested that the economy is slowing. Ordinarily, that would be a danger signal, but the White House welcomed the Commerce announcement as a sign that moderating growth will encourage interest rates to fall...
Despite all those impediments to good cheer, 11th Cavalry morale is higher than the watchtowers that dot the border. Reenlistment, a key index of soldier satisfaction, is better than in recent memory: so far this year, some 400 men and women have signed on for another tour. Says Colonel Joe G. Driskill, the 11th Cavalry's commander: "For the first time, we're in a position to turn soldiers away...
...Kong's future mounted, untold billions of dollars left the colony; foreign consulates have been flooded with visa applications from jittery locals, businessmen in particular. The value of the Hong Kong dollar fell 40% last year, as did the price of choice properties. The Hang Seng stock market index, perhaps the most vivid thermometer of economic faith, has dipped by more than 30% in the past two years. With confidence somewhat buoyed by Howe's reassurances, it climbed 66.95 points, to 893.69 in a single day last week, its most bullish performance since the talks began in September...
...cynic would say that patriotism is an impulse that consults the economic indicators, and he would be partly right. Americans are more hopeful about their economic futures now, or so the polls say, than they have been in the past five years. What politicians refer to as the Misery Index (unemployment plus inflation) is down 10 points since 1980. The rate of economic growth is high (a breathtaking 8.8% in the first quarter of the year). Many shadows remain over the economy, over Central America, over the Middle East...
...slowdown to a more sustainable rate of growth, accompanied by some further declines in unemployment, which has fallen from 10.8% in December 1982 to 7.5%. Most surprising, there has been no increase in inflation of the type that usually accompanies such a boom. The nation's broadest price index, the so-called G.N.P. deflator, rose at an annual rate of 3.9% in the first quarter, but only 2.8% in the second...