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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer unch%
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For the week ending June 14 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer remained at the same level, 97.9, from the prior week as positive and negative performances of both consumption and production indexes cancelled out each other. Chain store sales picked up by 0.4 percent after a 2.7 percent loss in the previous week; notwithstanding it was counterbalanced by a sharp decline in MBA’s purchase index. As to the production side, electric output plummeted by 4.5 percent after a 2.9 percent gain in the last week, cancelling out this week’s increases in auto and truck production.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.8 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 97.9 for five weeks in a row. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.6 percent.
Posted: June 26, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM