DETROIT, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Michigan Business Activity Index compiled by Comerica Bank was 102 in December, up 1 point from November. The latest reading is down about 4 percent from a year ago. For the year as a whole, our index has averaged 2.6 percent less than it did in 2005.
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"Mild weather helped activity tick higher in December, but the state economy almost certainly has not bottomed out yet," said Dana Johnson, Chief Economist at Comerica Bank. "Production and employment are going to continue to trend lower over the first half of 2007, reflecting the direct and indirect impact of the ongoing restructuring of the Michigan-based auto industry."
The Michigan Business Activity Index (MBAI) represents ten different measures of Michigan economic activity compiled monthly by the Economics Department of Comerica Bank. The MBAI is seasonally adjusted, corrected for inflation, and expressed as an index, with 1996 as base year equal to 100. The MBAI series has been calculated monthly since 1957 and depicts state economic activity over seven full swings of the U.S. business cycle.
Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA) is a financial services company headquartered in Detroit, strategically aligned by three business segments: The Business Bank, The Retail Bank, and Wealth & Institutional Management. Comerica focuses on relationships and helping businesses and people to be successful.
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SOURCE: Comerica Bank
CONTACT: Dana Johnson, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of
Comerica Bank, +1-734-930-2401, or +1-800-895-7708
Web site: http://www.comerica.com/
