Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased by 0.7%
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For the week ending February 9, 2013, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer decreased by 0.7 percent following a 0.4 percent increase in the prior week. Chain Store Sales fell this week, likely due to the snow storm hitting along the East Coast. MBA’s Purchase Index also declined largely after a 2.2 percent reading in the previous week. On the production side, Lumber Production dropped for the second consecutive week while Auto Production increased by 6.3 percent, rebounding to the year-end 2012 level.
On a year-over-year basis, the barometer showed increase of 0.8 percent, 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 flatlining 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 2012 slightly slowed to 1.4 percent following 2.2 percent in 2011.
The smoothed version of the barometer, which attempts to account for weekly volatility, decreased by 0.1 percent this week and has been falling for six consecutive weeks. Its year-over-year growth rate was 0.6 percent.
Posted: February 21, 2013 Thursday 10:00 AM