02:34 PM EDT, 05/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Conference Board's Leading Economic Index fell by 0.6% in April after a 0.3% drop in March, with negative contributions from five of the 10 components of the index, particularly business conditions expectations and Institute for Supply Management new orders.

The Conference Board said the data suggest "serious headwinds" to US growth, particularly inflation, high interest rates and rising household debt, with expectations of real gross domestic product expected to slow to under 1% over the next few quarters.

State-level from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the unemployment rate fell in five states in April, rose in two states and held steady elsewhere.

The largest declines were in Arizona, Maine, Mississippi, and Montana. North Dakota and South Dakota tied for the lowest jobless rate in April, at 2%, while the California had the highest at 5.3%.

The national unemployment rate rose to 3.9% in April from 3.8% in March.

Payrolls rose in six states, with Florida and Texas posting the largest increases in absolute terms and Missouri seeing the biggest percentage gain.

Nationwide nonfarm payrolls rose by 175,000 in April after a revised 315,000 gain in March.

The St. Louis Fed's GDP nowcast estimate for Q2 is for a 1.48% gain, revised down from a 2.37% gain in the previous estimate.