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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased by 0.1%
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For the week ending May 10 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased slightly by 0.1 percent for the second consecutive week. Among both consumption and production indexes an increase was seen in only steel production and all other indexes showed declines. The biggest decline was auto production, which dropped by 6.0 percent. Truck production also decreased by 1.5 percent. Coal and bituminous and lignite production dropped, cancelling out more than the increase in the prior week. For consumption, most of the indexes declined slightly by 0.1 or 0.2 percent
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 0.7 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 98.2 for four weeks in a row. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.5 percent.
Posted: May 22, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM