Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer edged up 0.1%
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For the week ending April 7, 2012, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer edged up +0.1 percent on top of a rise of +0.9 percent in the prior week. Inflation-adjusted chain store sales managed to increase by +0.4 percent, even after a surge of +3.8 percent in the week earlier, continuously helped by a warm weather and Easter Sunday, which fell on April 8th this year. As for the production sector, an increase in steel production and electric output was offset by a slide in truck and lumber production in the latest week.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer grew +1.5 percent, which compares to an average -3.3 percent decline over the Great Recession (determined to have ended in June 2009 according to the NBER). After flatlining 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%), but not so impressive when you compare it to an -8.0 percent drop in 2009.
The smoothed version of the barometer, which attempts to account for weekly volatility, increased by +0.2 percent in the week ending April 7th, while its year-over-year growth rate increased +1.4 percent.
Posted: April 19, 2012 Thursday 10:00 AM