Welcome back to our Debt Podcast. Today is Monday, December 26, 2005. I'm Jay Fleischman, and thanks for staying subscribed. On today's show, you'll hear news and information from the trenches of personal finance, the daily tantrum, a personal finance tip, listener Q& A, and some podsafe music for your listening pleasure. First up,

And now, the latest headlines from the world of personal finance.

According to information released on Thursday of last week, that was December 22, a widely watched measure of future economic activity rose in November as fewer people filed for jobless benefits, which suggests that the nations' economy may be growing moderately into the spring. The conference board said its index of leading economic indicators, which tries to gauge future economic growth, rose .5% in November. Much of last month's gains were tied to a drop of number of applicants seeking unemployment benefits, which spiked soon after Hurricane Katrina devastated the U.S. Gulf states. The conference board's measure of current economic activity, the coincidence index, rose .2% in November, following a .2% increase in October. The research group said that over the last six months, industrial production and employment have been the engines of growth in its coincidence index. Chris Lowe, chief economist at FTN Financial, warned that economic growth may slow because some of the economy's gains are linked to temporary US government spending to help regions hit by the storms in the hurricane season. Components boosting November's leading economic index included stock prices, building permits, and consumer expectations, according to the conference board. Separately, the US government reported that personal spending rose by .3% last month, below 8.4% gain that Wall Street had been expecting, while incomes rose...
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