Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer declined by 0.2%
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For the week ending January 15, 2011, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer declined by another -0.2 percent. After racing along at the end of the year, the barometer has fallen in the first three weeks of 2011, primarily concentrated among a few of the production components such as lumber and coal. Admittedly, however, home purchasing activity and inflation-adjusted chain store sales have also been weak. Certainly, a spate of storms in the South, Midwest, and Northeast has done its share to hamper consumer activity at the start of the year.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer slowed to +4.5 percent in the week ending January 15, 2011, which compares to an average -3.3 percent decline over the Great Recession (determined to have 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%), but not so impressive when you compare it to an -8.0 percent drop in 2009.
Posted: January 27, 2011 Thursday 10:00 AM