Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.4%
|
For the week ending January 10 2015, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.4 percent to 98.9 after a sharp drop in the previous week. This week’s barometer was partially fueled by strong recovery in production indexes, in which electric output bounced back by 10.1 percent after falling in prior weeks; while truck production picked up by 25.3 percent. Good performances in consumption indexes were equally important. MBA’s purchase index skyrocketed by 23.6 percent, and freight car loadings increased by 4.4 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 1.8 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, declined by 0.2 percent to 99.1. Its year-over-year growth rate was 1.1 percent.
Posted: January 22, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM