Overall Business Health Remained Steady in January

Small business performance and other economic signals point to improvements in coming months

• Small business health improves for third consecutive month
• Economy added an estimated 238,000 non-farm payroll jobs in January 

SHORT HILLS, N.J.-- Dun & Bradstreet (NYSE:DNB), the world's leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, today released its February 2015 U.S. Economic Health Tracker which provides a monthly, multi-dimensional perspective on the U.S. economy, including small business health, total job growth, and overall U.S. business health.

 “U.S. business health levels remained steady in January with positive economic signals suggesting growth in coming months,” said Bodhi Ganguli, senior economist, Dun & Bradstreet. “There are a number of underlying factors that contribute to the encouraging outlook; U.S. oil production is at a decade high and the resulting fall in gas prices have had a positive impact on the amount of disposable income for families. These signals, combined with improving health of the Small Business sector, gives us more confidence in growth prospects for 2015.”

There continues to be an uptick in Small Business health, with Dun & Bradstreet’s proprietary index showing a third straight month of incremental growth, climbing from an average value of 90.6 in the third quarter of 2014 to a 96.6 in the fourth quarter of 2014. This was driven by a marked decline in payment delinquency. Dun &Bradstreet’s Small Business Health Index improved 2.5 points in the last month.

The economy added an estimated 238,000 non-farm jobs to U.S. payrolls in January 2015. Business Services continues to feature major gains. While all sectors are up, Construction is expected to suffer a setback due to seasonal weather, while Retail gain is anticipated as conditions in that sector continue to improve.   As steady, broad based gains in the labor market continue, we expect to see wage growth pick up in 2015. 

January 2015 Highlights

Media Resources

• Watch Bodhi Ganguli, Dun & Bradstreet senior economist share his perspective on the state of the U.S. economy in a short video.
• To download the January U.S. Economic Health Tracker Infographic, visit www.dnb.com/tracker.
• Access the 2015 planned publishing schedule, FAQs, and archived reports at www.dnb.com/tracker.
• Follow D&B Economic Insight daily on Twitter at @DnBEconomy.

Methodology

The Small Business Health Index measures year-over-year small business performance through payment patterns and credit use. U.S. Jobs Health combines Small Business Health Index industry data with Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) figures to forecast monthly nonfarm payroll employment. The U.S. Business Health Index provides a year-over-year weighted average of D&B’s Viability Score, Delinquency Predictor and Total Loss Predictor. The index ranges from zero (with all businesses recording high levels of risk) to 100% (with all businesses recording low levels of risk). Data available as of January 31, 2015.

About D&B's U.S. Economic Health Tracker

This forward-looking perspective on the U.S. economy offers insights and monthly data using three macro indicators: (i) the D&B Small Business Health Index, (ii) the D&B U.S. Jobs Health Indicator; and (iii) the D&B U.S. Business Health Index. The index also leverages three D&B advanced analytic products (D&B's Viability Score™, D&B Delinquency Predictor™, and D&B Total Loss Predictor™).

About Dun & Bradstreet® (D&B)

The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is the world's leading source of commercial data, analytics and insight on businesses. Our global commercial database contains more than 240 million business records. We transform commercial data into valuable insight which is the foundation of our global solutions that customers rely on to make critical business decisions.

Dun & Bradstreet provides solution sets that meet a diverse set of customer needs globally. Customers use D&B Risk Management Solutions™ to mitigate credit and supplier risk, increase cash flow and drive increased profitability, and D&B Sales & Marketing Solutions™ to provide data management capabilities that provide effective and cost efficient marketing solutions to increase revenue from new and existing customers.

For more information, please visit www.dnb.com or follow @DnBUS.

Dun & Bradstreet
Media contact:
Deborah McBride, 973-921-5714
McBrideD@dnb.com

or

Investor contact:
Kathy Guinnessey, 973-921-5892
Kathy.Guinnessey@dnb.com

Source: Dun & Bradstreet