• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 18, 2008

Hate to break the news to OMMA Expoites, but the economic fear and loathing that kicked off this morning’s sessions, appears to be getting worse. At least that’s what the Conference Board is saying in a just released assessment of the leading economic indicators.

The board’s index for U.S. leading economic indicators decreased 0.5% in August, bringing it down to a base that is now 2.7% lower than it was a year ago.

“Building permits, the index of supplier deliveries and initial claims for unemployment insurance (inverted) made large negative contributions to the index this month, more than offsetting positive contributions from the interest rate spread and consumer expectations,” the board said. “The six-month change in the leading index stands at -1.1 percent (a -2.1 percent annual rate), up slightly from -1.6 percent (about a -3.3 percent annual rate) for the previous six months. However, the weaknesses among the

leading indicators have remained widespread over the past six months.”