Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer increased by 0.2%
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For the week ending April 27, 2013, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer was 0.1 percent up following a gain of 0.2 percent in the prior week. Increases in consumption indexes mainly resulted in a slight rise of this week’s barometer. Chain Store Sales rose by 0.4 percent for the second consecutive week and Railroad Freight Carloadings was also up by 2.0 percent. Meanwhile Electric Output in the production index decreased by 2.7 percent after two weeks’ consecutive rises, dropping back down to the level seen before March. This is possibly because of decreasing demand for electricity, which was strong from March to the early April due to the colder-than-normal weather.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed an increase of 0.8 percent, which compares to an average -3.3 percent decline over the Great Recession (determined to have ended in June 2009 according to the NBER). After flatlining 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 2012 slightly slowed to 1.4 percent following 2.2 percent in 2011.
The smoothed version of the barometer, which attempts to account for weekly volatility, remained unchanged. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.8 percent.
Posted: May 9, 2013 Thursday 10:00 AM