'Makes no economic sense': Trump adviser flips on tariffs five months after praising them

[progree]

13. Coincidentally, Leading Economic Indicators fell more than expected in August, it was reported today

U.S. Leading Economic Index Falls Much More Than Expected In August, RTT News, 9/18/25

"In August, the US LEI registered its largest monthly decline since April 2025, signaling more headwinds ahead," said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board.

"Among its components, only stock prices and the Leading Credit Index supported the LEI in August and over the past six months," she added. "Meanwhile, the contribution of the yield spread turned slightly negative for the first time since April."

The Conference Board said the leading economic index tumbled by 2.8 percent over the six months between February and August 2025, a faster rate of decline than the 0.9 percent contraction over the previous six-month period.
More: https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/us-leading-economic-index-falls-much-more-expected-august

From the source (with graphs) https://www.conference-board.org/topics/us-leading-indicators/

Here's the main one:


Too bad it goes all the way back to 2000 -- 25 years, so is hard to see the recent action. Not much to note though - there was an increase in July -- with a magnifying glass and a big monitor and zooming in, one can see a tiny little uptick there for July followed by the bigger downtick in August.