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DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer declined by 0.3%
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For the week ending August 9 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer declined by 0.3 percent to 98.4, after remaining flat the previous week. The decrease in this week’s barometer stemmed from weak performances in consumption indexes. Chain store sales and MBA’s purchase index fell by 1.4 and 1.0 percent, respectively. As to the production side, auto production reported solid gains, along with strong electric output; but it was partially offset by a drop of 5.7 percent in truck production.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed a gain of 1.0 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 98.6. Its year-over-year growth rate was 1.2 percent.
Posted: August 21, 2014 Thursday 10:00 AM