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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.1%
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For the week ending October 4 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.1 percent to 98.3, after declining for three weeks in a row. The recovery in this week’s barometer is driven by both consumption and production indexes. MBA’s purchase index surged 2.4 percent, in line with minor gains in chain store sales and freight car loadings. As to the production side, all indexes except auto production reported gains, specially coal production and electric output, which climbed by 10.7 and 3.6 percent, respectively.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.9 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 98.3. Its year-over-year growth rate was 1.1 percent.
Posted: October 16, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM