The Conference Board, a private research group, has released its statistics for November. The index of Leading Economic Inidicaters rose 0.9% last month, up from 0.3% in October making this the eighth consecutive month for positive results in the index.

November’s numbers actually outperformed the 0.7% expected by many economists.

The positive performance came from improvements in the interest rate spread, building permits for residential homes, initial unemployment claims, and average weekly hours. These were more than enough to offset the negative contribution of supplier deliveries, and consumer expectations.

The six-month growth in the index has slowed somewhat in recent months — to 4.7 percent (about a 9.6 percent annual rate) in the period through November, but it remains substantially higher than the increase of 1.2 percent (a 2.4 percent annual rate) from November 2008 to May 2009. In addition, the strengths among the leading indicators have remained widespread in recent months.

All this indicates a positive economy into 2010 – although the general mood among economic forecasters remains tepid.

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