DJ-BTMU Barometer Gives Back Some Of Prior Week's Jump
March 15 2012 - 10:29AM
Dow Jones News
The Dow Jones-Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi-UFJ weekly business
barometer reversed direction in the latest week as vehicle
production plunged, according to data released Thursday.
The barometer rose declined 1.1% in the March 3 week after
jumping an unrevised 1.4% in the prior week.
The latest index was up 0.7% from its year-ago reading.
A statistically smoothed version of the index increased 0.1%
after an unrevised 0.3% advance.
The DJ-BTMU barometer is a weighted, 10-component index designed
as a coincident measure of overall economic activity. In the March
3 week, six components increased and four declined. Among the
decliners, truck production plunged 39.3% and auto output fell
32.4%; each sector had surged in the prior week. Among the gainers,
box office receipts rose 7.8% and lumber production was up
3.1%.
Real chain-store sales rose 1.3% in the latest week.
A separate DJ-BTMU index of production trends, which is drawn
from the six production-related components and which is
statistically indexed to the Federal Reserve's industrial
production index, dropped 1.7% after an unrevised 1.9% gain in the
prior week.
For the full report and revisions, please see:
https://reports.us.bk.mufg.jp/portal/site
-By Kathleen Madigan, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2466;
kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com