NEW YORK - Evidence is accumulating that the nation's economic recovery is gaining momentum. The Conference Board reported Thursday that its closely watched Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators rose 0.4 percent in October, suggesting stronger economic activity in the coming year.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that fewer U.S. workers filed new applications for unemployment benefits last week. For the week ending Nov. 15, new claims for jobless benefits declined by a seasonally adjusted 15,000 to 355,000. For seven straight weeks claims have been below the 400,000 mark, suggesting that the job market is turning a corner.
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan warned Thursday that "creeping protectionism" could worsen the U.S. trade deficit and damage efforts to revive the U.S. economy.
"Some clouds of emerging protectionism have become increasingly evident on today's horizon," Greenspan told a monetary conference sponsored by the Cato Institute and the British publication the Economist, two organizations that support free trade.
"There's been a steady stream - rather than a trickle - of good news," said Tim O'Neill, chief economist for the Bank of Montreal and Harris Bank in Chicago. "We're probably headed toward a torrent over the next few months."
O'Neill noted that after the recession ended in November 2001, the economy stuttered through 2002.
The Conference Board said its Composite Index of Leading Economic Indicators increased to 113.6 last month after showing no change in September and a 0.4 percent rise in August. September's figure was revised upward from an initially reported 0.2 percent dip.
The October rise was greater than the 0.2 percent increase most analysts had been forecasting.
