Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer unch%
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For the week ending August 2 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer remained at 98.7 as positive and negative performances of both consumption and production indexes neutralized each other. MBA’s purchase index dropped by 1.3 percent, but it was entirely offset by gains in chain store sales and railroad freight car loadings. As to the production side, a sharp drop of 4.2 percent in electric output was offset by expansions in other production indexes, especially auto production.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 1.3 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, remained at 98.7 for three weeks in a row. Its year-over-year growth rate was 1.2 percent.
Posted: August 14, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM