Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dipped by 0.4%
|
For the week ending September 12 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer dipped by 0.4 percent to 98.8, after expanding for two consecutive weeks. This week’s barometer was mainly driven by weak performances in consumption indexes, in which chain store sales decreased by 3.1 percent because business was broadly weak. MBA’s purchase also showed a significant loss of 4.2 percent. As to the production side, truck and lumber production increased by 9.9 and 7.8 percent, respectively; however those gains were almost entirely offset by losses in auto production and electric output.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.4 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 99.0. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.4 percent.
Posted: September 24, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM