leading indicators

American

[lee-ding] / ˈli dɪŋ /

plural noun

Economics.

data that reflect current economic conditions and can suggest future developments or fluctuations in the nation's economy: issued, usually monthly, by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis in the Commerce Department.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For deposit insurance, such a market would almost certainly set rates that reflect leading indicators of risk, such as rapid asset growth, rather than lagging indicators, such as the growth in a bank’s non-performing loans.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 13, 2026

Not surprisingly, given that none of these theories supports a solid coincident indicator for gold’s gyrations, they all fail as leading indicators as well.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 12, 2026

Of the states that are likely to report results fairly rapidly, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan will be seen as leading indicators.

From Salon • Nov. 5, 2024

Housing detracted, on average, around 1% from real GDP growth between the second and fourth quarters of 2022, but the leading indicators of weakness showed up earlier.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 9, 2023

Following Wednesday's decline in the Ifo business climate, all key leading indicators in the manufacturing sector are now falling, Kraemer from Commerzbank said.

From Reuters • May 25, 2023

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023