By Patrick Thomas

An economic index that measures U.S. business trends declined in October, following a 0.2% decline in both September and August.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index fell 0.1% to 111.7 in October. Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expected the index to rise 0.2%.

The decline was driven by weaknesses in new orders for manufacturing, average weekly hours, and unemployment insurance claims, Thursday's report said.

"The major difference this month is the softening in the labor market, whereas conditions in manufacturing remain weak and show no signs of improvement yet," Ataman Ozyildirim, senior director of economic research at the Conference Board said in a statement. "Taken together, the LEI suggests that the economy will end the year on a weak note, at just below 2% growth."

Comprising 10 factors including initial claims for jobless benefits, factory orders and the S&P 500's price change, the index is intended to signal swings in the business cycle and to smooth out some of the volatility of individual indicators.

Write to Patrick Thomas at patrick.thomas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2019 10:38 ET (15:38 GMT)

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