Research >> Economics
DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer down -0.6%
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For the week ending November 22, 2008, the DJ-BTMU U.S. Business Barometer experienced its first increase following six straight weeks of decline. In the latest week, inflation-adjusted chain store sales and movie-going slumped but a rebound in the manufacturing sector helped save the day. Despite the latest week’s improvement, however, the business barometer is reflecting accelerating deterioration in the final quarter of the year for the overall economy. On a weekly year-over-year basis, the barometer was down -3.7 percent in the week ending November 22, 2008. Over the past twenty-five years, the barometer has had an average year-over-year growth rate of +0.5 percent. At the height of the current economic expansion in 2004, the year-over-year measure grew an average +1.4 percent each week. During the most recent recession (dated March 2001 to November 2001), the barometer was dropping, on average, about -1.6 percent each week on a year-over-year basis.
Posted: December 4, 2008 Thursday 10:03 AM