The Conference Board Economics Watch^® - European View

Euro Area Economy May Stop Contracting, but the Growth Outlook Remains Weak

• The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for the Euro Area increased in December and its six-month growth rate remained positive
• While some business confidence measures are improving, contraction for the Euro Area as a whole likely continued in Q4
• Individual country Leading Economic Indexes suggest that Spain’s contraction may be slowing, while conditions in Germany are worsening
• Results from The Conference Board CEO Challenge^® 2013 survey show that companies in Europe are now more concerned about managing long-term rather than short-term global and political risk
• The survey also shows that Europe’s business leaders, along with their peers around the world, seek competitiveness by using internal resources more efficiently, especially human capital