Composite leading indicators (CLIs) are giving off stronger signals of economic expansion, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Friday.

The OECD said that the CLIs for December 2009 “provide stronger signals of an expansionary economic outlook than last month”.

It reports that the CLIs for the G7 economies as well as China, India, Russia and Brazil, are now all close to, or above, their long term trends.

The CLI for the overall OECD area increased by 0.9 points in December and was 10.1 points higher than in December 2008.

For the United States, United Kingdom and the Euro area, the CLI increased by 0.9 points in December. For Japan, it increased by 1.2 points, and Canada was up by 1.1 points in December, 11.3 points higher than a year ago.

The CLI for China decreased by 0.1 points in December, but was still 9.4 points higher than a year ago. For India, the indicator was unchanged. Russia’s reading increased by 0.3 points, and Brazil increased by 0.1 points.

IE