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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased drastically by 0.9%
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For the week ending January 18 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased drastically by 0.9 percent and continued to weaken since the end of December 2013. Most of the major components except for auto and truck production showed declines. Consumption indexes worsened the barometer markedly; chain store sales decreased by 1.8 percent following two consecutive weeks’ drop and MBA’s purchase index and railroad freight carloadings also declined. On the production side, lumber production showed the third straight week of decline and electric output decreased considerably as well.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer slowed to 0.3 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, showed a 0.3 percent decline to 97.6, the lowest since November 9 2013, and continued to drop for four consecutive weeks. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.9 percent.
Posted: January 30, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM