India, Oct. 22 -- Suggesting the U.S. economy could be losing momentum heading into the final quarter of 2020, the Conference Board released a report on Thursday showing a slowdown in the pace of growth by its reading on leading economic indicators.

The Conference Board said its leading economic index climbed by 0.7 percent in September after surging up by a revised 1.4 percent in August.

Economists had expected the index to rise by 0.6 percent compared to the 1.2 percent jump originally reported for the previous month.

The continued increase by the leading economic index was driven primarily by declining unemployment claims and rising housing permits.

"The US economy is projected to expand in Q4, but at a substantially slower rate of...