The index has now been below the 2012 average rate of 4.74% for four months. In 2011, the average rate was 5.95% compared to the 2010 average rate of 6.79%.
Vidur Dhanda, Founder of WAIN Street, said Thursday, “Since publishing the BDX last fall, we continue to be intrigued by its ability to track real-world nuances. In December 2012, the index broke its four-month pattern of declines with a slight uptick in defaults mirroring Commerce Department’s announcement that the economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012. Yesterday, the Commerce Department announced that Consumer Spending continued to climb in February. A fact mirrored by the decline in the BDX since the beginning of the year. This, combined with our continuing analysis reconfirms that the BDX is a uniquely valuable indicator of national business health.”
The WAIN Street Business Default Index is computed monthly based on the credit performance of nearly 18 million US businesses. By aggregating multiple types of default events across demographically similar businesses, WAIN Street has created a gauge that captures default incidence and severity nationally and supports demographic drill-downs.
