Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rebounded by 1.6%
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For the week ending December 12 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rebounded by 1.6 percent to 98.8. This week’s barometer was driven by both consumption and production indexes. Chain store sales, for instance, picked up by 3.9 percent following a sharp loss of 6.1 percent in the previous week. Railroad freight car loadings as well posted a solid gain of 5.4 percent. As to the production side, all indexes except electric output recorded significant gains. For example, auto and truck production rose by 13.7 and 8.6 percent, respectively; while lumber and coal production climbed by 9.7 and 5.2 percent, respectively.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a loss of -1.1 percent, 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, increased by 0.1 percent to 98.1. Its year-over-year growth rate was -1.4 percent.
Posted: December 24, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM