DETROIT Without the Iraq war dampening the states economy this year, the Michigan Business Activity Index, complied by Comerica Bank, closed up 2.4 percent from the first quarter of 2003.
The Index in March closed at 113, unchanged from February, but 7 points higher than March 2003.
“March was 7 percent above a war-depressed year-earlier level and the first quarter 2004 averaged 2.4 percent above real activity levels in the same quarter 2003,” said David Littmann, chief economist at Comerica Bank. “Auto sector output and sales along with strengthening financial activity boosted the March results, but a fall off in steel output and energy sales brought the overall state economy back to February levels.”
The Michigan Business Activity Index represents 10 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 on an index basis with base year 1996 equals 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.
