Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rose by 0.4%
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For the week ending November 15 2014, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer rose by 0.4 percent to 98.6, extending the growing trend to two weeks. The biggest factor that contributed to the performance of this week’s barometer was MBA’s purchase index, which increased by a sharp 11.7 percent, following 1.1 percent in the prior week. As to the production side, all indexes except auto production reported gains, especially electric output, which climbed again by a solid 5.2 percent after growing 6.7 percent last week.
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, increased by 0.1 percent to 98.3. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.6 percent.
Posted: November 26, 2014 Wednesday 10:00 AM