A closely-watched gauge of future U.S. economic activity rose sharply in January, suggesting strong economic growth over the next few months.
A business group, the Conference Board in New York said Tuesday that its Index of Leading Indicators rose a strong 1.1 percent for the month.
That is stronger than the reading for the previous month, and better than economists expected.
Analysts, quoted by Bloomberg News say much of the rise was due to an improving labor market.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Bloomberg.