US leading index and eurozone industrial orders fall, UK economy flattens

The US economic outlook remains poor. From Reuters:

The Economic Cycle Research Institute, a New York-based independent forecasting group, said its Weekly Leading Index fell to 125.9 in the week to Aug. 15 from 126.4 in the previous period.

Its annualized growth fell to negative 11.4 percent from minus 10.7 percent, revised up from minus 10.8 percent. It hit its lowest mark since the week to June 13, 1980, when it was negative 11.8 percent.

Yesterday's data from Europe were little better. While the National Bank of Belgium's business survey index rose to minus 5.9 in August from minus 7.6 in July, other reports from Europe were more downbeat.

Industrial orders in the euro area fell sharply in June. Bloomberg reports:

Industrial orders in the 15-nation euro area declined 7.4 percent from a year earlier, the most since December 2001, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said today. Excluding transport, orders fell an annual 1.5 percent...

Euro-area orders fell 0.3 percent in June from the previous month, according to today's report. Excluding transport, which declined 3.7 percent, industrial orders rose 0.6 percent.

Meanwhile, the UK economy looks like it is on the cusp of a recession. From Reuters:

The Office for National Statistics revised down its GDP reading to show it was unchanged on the quarter in the three months to June from an initial estimate of 0.2 percent growth and down from 0.3 percent growth in the first quarter.

That larger than expected revision was the lowest reading since the second quarter of 1992 when the economy was in the throes of its last recession. On the year, GDP was just 1.4 percent higher, the weakest since the final quarter of 1992.