By Steve Goldstein
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Conference Board said on Thursday that its leading economic index -- a composite gauge of ten indicators including weekly jobless claims, stock prices and the money supply -- rose 0.3% in August, after a 0.1% increase in July. The rise was stronger than the 0.2% pick-up that economists polled by MarketWatch expected; nonetheless, the index has slowed to 2% in the six months to August, down from 4.8% in the preceding six months. The biggest positive contribution in August came from the interest rate spread between 10-year Treasury bonds and the federal funds rate, while the biggest drag came from the average weekly rise in initial jobless claims.
