OECD composite leading indicators (CLIs) for February 2009 continue to point to a deep slowdown for all the major seven economies. Although some tentative signs of improvement in the rate of deterioration in the outlook are appearing in some countries, noticeably Italy, France and in some of the smaller OECD countries, the emphasis on ‘tentative’ cannot be overstated. The picture for all countries remains weak with the outlook in the United States, Canada, Japan and the major non-OECD member economies in particular, further deteriorating since last month.

The CLI for the OECD area decreased by 0.6 point in February 2009 and was 9.7 points lower than in February 2008. The CLI for the United States fell by 1.1 point in February and was 11.8 points lower than a year ago. The Euro area’s CLI decreased by 0.2 point in February and stood 8.2 points lower than a year ago. In February, the CLI for Japan decreased by 1.5 point, and was 11.2 points lower than a year ago.

The CLI for the United Kingdom fell by 0.2 point in February 2009 and was 6.6 points lower than a year ago. The CLI for Canada decreased by 1.2 point in February and was 10.6 points lower than a year ago. For France, the CLI increased by 0.1 point in February but was 4.7 points lower than a year ago. The CLI for Germany fell by 0.3 point in February and was 12.9 points lower than a year ago. For Italy, the CLI increased by 0.4 point in February but stood 4.1 points lower than a year ago.

The CLI for China decreased 0.7 point in February 2009 and was 12.5 points lower than a year ago. The CLI for India fell by 0.8 point in February 2009 and was 10.1 points lower than in February 2008. The CLI for Russia decreased by 1.9 points in February and was 19.7 points lower than a year ago. In February 2009 the CLI for Brazil decreased by 2.4 points and was 12.1 points lower than a year ago.