'''The Conference Board Leading Economic Index''' is an [[United States|American]] economic [[Indexleading (economics)|index]] intended to forecast future economic activity. It is calculated by [[The Conference Board]], a [[non-governmental organization]], which determines the value of the index from the values of ten key [[Variable (mathematics)|variables]]. These variables have historically turned downward before a [[recession]] and upward before an [[expansion]]. The single index value composed from these ten variables has generally proved capable of predicting recessions over the past 50 years.
