Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dropped by 0.3%
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For the week ending June 6 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dropped by 0.3 percent to 98.4, following a rise of 0.5 percent in the previous week. This week’s barometer was chiefly driven by weak performances in consumption indexes. Chain store sales plunged by 2.8 percent, the largest drop since the beginning of the year; although it was partially offset by strong performance in MBA’s purchase index, which increased by 9.7 percent. As to the production side, electric output, steel and lumber production reported minor losses, but they were entirely offset by gains in auto and truck production.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.5 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 98.5. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.5 percent.
Posted: June 18, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM