Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer ticked up slightly by 0.1%
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For the week ending August 31st 2013, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer ticked up slightly by 0.1 percent following a 0.2 percent increase in the prior week. A rise in production indexes driven by a large climb in electric output offset a drop in consumption indexes. Chain store sales was the only index which contributed negatively to the overall barometer declining by 0.6 percent. MBA’s purchase index also decreased only slightly. However, downward trend has continued since June. Other indexes showed no significant changes.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.7 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 percent), but not so impressive when compared to an -8.0 percent drop in 2009. The rate of increase for the 2012 slightly slowed to 1.4 percent following 2.2 percent in 2011.
The smoothed version of the barometer, which attempts to account for weekly volatility, continued to be flat for three consecutive weeks and hasn’t increased since July 13. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.3 percent.
Posted: September 12, 2013 Thursday 10:00 AM