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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer slipped by 0.2%
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For the week ending November 1 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer slipped by 0.2 percent to 97.9, falling to its lowest level since June 2014. The biggest factor that contributed to this week’s barometer was chain store sales, which dipped by 1.6 percent, mainly owing to a big falloff in furniture stores and a moderate decline in office and grocery stores. However, this tumble was partially offset by gains in other indexes. For instance, MBA’s purchase index rose by 2.6 percent, while electric output picked up by 1.7 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.6 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, fell by 0.1 percent to 98.0. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.6 percent.
Posted: November 13, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM