The leading economic indicator rose again in April but only from a weaker revised March base. At 101.8, the latest reading was up from the previous period's 100.4 to make for a fourth successive outturn above the 100 long-run average. However, it was also on the soft side of the market consensus.

The monthly gain was mainly attributable to improving conditions in financial and insurance services, manufacturing and private consumption. By contrast, prospects for hospitality and construction deteriorated versus March.

Taken at face value, the April report points to a respectable period ahead for Swiss growth. Even so, with both the RPI (minus 20) and RPI-P (minus 8) still sub-zero, overall economic activity continues to lag slightly behind market expectations.

April's leading index is put at 102.0 after 101.5 in March.

The KOF Economic Indicator is a composite leading indicator that aims to identify shifts in the Swiss business cycle around three months ahead of the actual event and, until the start of 2014, was based on twenty-five different economic indicators. The old version of the KOF Economic Indicator used the previous year's GDP growth rate published by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) as a yardstick. The revised measure still incorporates SECO data; however, KOF has changed over to month-on-month changes in GDP which are generated via statistical methods. This reference series is not about exact GDP figures but about the direction and strength of the economic trend. The new objective of the Barometer is the same as the old objective: achieving maximum possible accuracy in predicting the Swiss business cycle.

The indicator measures overall economic activity through a qualitative business survey about developments in the recent past, the current situation and expectations for the next three to six months. Getting an accurate handle on where the economy is headed is inevitably a vital element in all investment decisions and the new measure uses some 219 variables in order to do just that. The set of variables will be reviewed every autumn.

Survey questions relate to production, orders and stocks of finished goods. The KOF Swiss Economic Institute publishes this indicator monthly.