Research >> Economics
BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by 0.5%
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For the week ending May 30 2015, the BTMU U.S. Business Barometer picked up by a solid 0.5 percent to 98.7, after declining by 0.4 percent in the prior week. This week’s recovery stemmed from strong performances in both consumption and production indexes. Chain store sales rose by 1.9 percent after four consecutive weeks of decline. Electric output as well climbed by a sharp 10.3 percent following a 2.4 percent drop in the previous week. However, indexes such as truck and coal production reported losses, although they were not large enough to offset the gains.
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 98.5. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.6 percent.
Posted: June 11, 2015 Thursday 10:00 AM