Bracing for the Slowdown in 2012By Eli Lustgarten
Article Date: 01-01-2012
Copyright(C) 2012 Associated Equipment Distributors. All Rights Reserved.
But the U.S. economy might be one of the best houses in the rundown global neighborhood.
The U.S. economy appears to have been gaining some momentum as the year 2011 was drawing to a close. Too bad it's unlikely to last much into the new year. The industrial sector is finishing on a strong note with the Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Managers Index (ISM PMI) rising in November to 52.7 from 50.8 in October with increases in both new orders index to 56.7 (from 52.4) and production index to 56.6 (from 50.1). Most North American equipment markets showed substantial increases in demand in 2011 from 2010: trucks up more than 60 percent; rail cars up more than 125 percent; and construction equipment up more than 35 percent. What we are witnessing is a bounce in equipment sales back toward a level more consistent with current activity after a more than two-thirds peak to trough decline in many markets during the 2008-'09 recession.
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