Economic Market Update

2018 Economic Outlook: Growth Expectations and Policy Risks By Jason Schenker, CMT®, CFP®, ERP®, CVA®, Prestige Economics, LLC— There are many reasons to be optimistic about growth in the year ahead. Data in the latter half of 2017 were generally positive, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its global growth forecasts, and leading indicators—like global purchasing manager indices—were indicative of ...

U.S. and Global Outlook Remain Positive for Material Handling and the Overall Economy By Jason Schenker, CMT, CFP, ERP, CVA, Prestige Economics, LLC The outlook for material handling remains positive, as long as the outlook for the U.S. economy remains positive. In a recent analysis, we found that nominal U.S. GDP is over 90 percent correlated with material handling. This ...

Optimism about the U.S. economic outlook that increased at the end of 2016, strengthened even further in the first quarter of 2017. U.S. consumer confidence rose sharply in the first quarter and data from the ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing purchasing manager indices (PMIs) and the MHI Business Activity Index (BAI) was positive. Although there had been downside risks to U.S. ...

Optimism about the U.S. economic outlook increased at the end of 2016, after the U.S. presidential election. Expectations of Reaganesque corporate and individual tax cuts that would be accompanied by FDR-era infrastructure spending sent equities higher—and improved the potential for investment. While optimism about U.S. growth improved at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, global growth expectations ...

Slow global growth, Brexit fallout, oil and gas credit risks and U.S. election fallout continue to present risks for the year ahead. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported global growth at 3.1 percent for 2015, with expected growth of 3.1 percent for 2016. On the upside, in October 2016, the IMF presented its forecast for 2017 global growth at 3.4 ...

Hold on to your hats, because 2017 is likely to be a bumpy ride because of slowing global growth, Brexit fallout, oil and gas credit risks and election cyclicality! Lower global growth expectations Back in July, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its global 2016 and 2017 growth forecasts in response to Brexit concerns, which also sent the dollar higher ...

There have been three red f lags highlighting downside risks to growth and the U.S. economy for the better part of a year: manufacturing, energy and finance. These red flags were the impetus behind my recent book, Recession-Proof: How to Survive and Thrive in an Economic Downturn. Interestingly, these were also three of the main down­side risks to the global ...

The outlook for U.S. economic growth and material handling for 2016 and 2017 has softened sharply in recent quarters. U.S. manufacturing activity fell to recession levels when it began contracting at the end of 2015, which can be seen in the yearover- year rate of industrial production and the ISM Manufacturing Index (see graph on page 110). Although U.S. manufacturing ...

The outlook for U.S. economic growth in 2016 and 2017 softened in the second half of 2015, as forward-looking manufacturing and material handling data reflected a significant slowdown in activity. While U.S. manufacturing has weakened, the U.S. service sector has remained solid, which bodes well for growth through at least the middle of 2016. At the same time that the ...

The economic climate for the balance of 2015 and 2016 is likely to be characterized by solid U.S. economic growth, an improving global economy, modestly rising commodity prices and continued foreign exchange rate volatility. In the new Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing (MHEM) forecast models, strong equity markets, low interest rates and continued manufacturing expansion are supportive of new orders. However, ...