Robert Ortner under secretary of commerce said last months 0.4 pct rise in the Index of Leading Indicators was consistent with growth of 3.0 pct this year. He said in a statement that stock prices accounted for a large share of the indexs growth in the last six months. Excluding stock prices the rate of increase was still a healthy 6.2 pct and is consistent with 3.0 pct or more overall economic growth during 1987 he said.
U.S. INDEX SAID CONSISTENT WITH GROWTH FORECAST