Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer increased by 0.2%
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For the week ending August 1 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer increased by 0.2 percent to 99.6. This week’s barometer was mainly driven by robust performances in some production indexes. For instance, auto production picked up by 5.6 percent following a sharp drop of 12.6 percent in the previous week; while truck production bounced back by 3.1 percent. Also, steel production climbed by 1.0 percent after a loss of 0.8 percent in the prior week. As to the consumption side, MBA’s purchase index increased by 3.3 percent, but chain store sales fell by 0.4 percent.
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 99.5. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.9 percent.
Posted: August 13, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM