Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rose by 0.7%
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For the week ending September 6 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rose by 0.7 percent to 99.3 from last week, reaching the second highest level since the Great Recession (the highest peak was in July 5 this year). This week’s barometer is driven by both consumption and production indexes. Chain store sales jumped 0.8 percent after being flat the prior week. As to the production side, auto production bounced back by 10.8 percent following an 8.6 percent drop last week; and electric out continued with its strong momentum.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 1.6 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, climbed by 0.2 percent to 98.9. Its year-over-year growth rate was 1.4 percent.
Posted: September 18, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM