U.S. economic prospects continue to improve, as do those of all major industrialised economies of the world except Italy, an indicator from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed on Friday. "Moderate to strong recovery lies ahead in the OECD area," the Paris-based OECD said in a statement on its January leading indicator, a sort of advance warning gauge compiled monthly. "January data signal continued improved development in Canada, France and the United Kingdom but weaker development for Italy," it said. The aggregate index for the 30-country OECD zone rose 0.4 points to 123.3 while a reading for the United States rose by a similar amount to 133.4.
The OECD expressed a note of caution, however, highlighting that another measure which it calls the six-month rate of change had decreased for the first time for the United States after nine consecutive months on the rise. The index for the 12-nation euro zone increased marginally, to 122.3 from 122.2. The index for Germany rose slightly, to 124.5 from 124.3, while the French index rose a little more, to 120.0 from 119.4 and the index for Britain rose to 109.8 from 109.2. For Italy, it fell to 106.6 from 106.9, the only fall among the Group of Seven leading industrialised economies. The index for Japan was 101.8 versus 101.6 in December and for Canada the index surged to 130.8 from 129.5.|||