Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.3%
|
For the week ending October 3 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.3 percent to 98.3, after declining for three weeks in a row. The recovery in this week’s barometer was driven by both consumption and production indexes. MBA’s purchase index rebounded by 27.4 percent, following a 5.6 percent decline in the previous week. As to the production side, several indexes reported gains. For instance, auto and truck production increased by 0.2 and 5.5 percent, respectively. Those gains were more than enough to offset the drop in electric output and steel production.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer remained flat, which compares to an average -3.3 percent decline over the Great Recession (ended in June 2009 according to the NBER). After flat lining in 2006, and declining from 2007 through 2009, the barometer bounced back in 2010 to rise by 3.4 percent, which was the strongest increase since 1994 (+4.0 percent), but not so impressive when compared to an -8.0 percent drop in 2009. The rate of increase for the 2013 slowed to 0.7 percent following 1.5 percent in 2012.
The smoothed version of the barometer, which attempts to account for weekly volatility, declined by 0.1 percent to 98.2. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.0 percent.
Posted: October 15, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM