Stability In Sight?

I can’t go so far as to indicate growth, but less fluctuation seems to make the folks on Wall Street a little happier and infuse greater capital into businesses

By Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director, PD&D

"I can’t go so far as to indicate growth, but less fluctuation seems to make the folks on Wall Street a little happier and infuse greater capital into businesses."

While a fair amount of this space is usually dedicated to tracking the ups and downs of the Product Design & Development Stock Index, the performance over this week can be summed up very quickly and succinctly:

• Every sector was down a minimum of 12 points, with some closer to 50.
• Overall, the index stands at 1081.32, down over 130 points from last week and nearly 240 since the end of January.

However, as a strong believer in the foundations of a capitalist model, I’m prone to gravitate towards indicators which could point towards some form of stabilization in the economy.

Note, I can’t go so far as to indicate growth, but less fluctuation seems to make the folks on Wall Street a little happier and infuse greater capital into businesses like yours and mine that need to continue on the path to greater product innovation.

So, on the positive side:

• The Institute of Supply Management’s PMI index nudged upwards from 35.6 in January to 35.8 in February. Although this still indicates retraction in the manufacturing sector, these figures represent the best posting since November of last year.
• This report also showed gains in production from 32.1 in January to 36.3 in February, and order backlogs have gone up nearly two percentage points.
• Pricing for several materials and key commodities has either decreased or is holding steady, which helps stave off fears of uncontrolled inflation.
• Finally, the U.S. dollar has seen some gains, with an exchange rate of about 0 .8 Euros.
• While investing is down with the Dow under 7,000 for the first time in over 10 years, consumer spending did increase slightly in January, beating projections.
• Personal savings also increased, which could produce greater spending capacities once the storm subsides and markets get better traction and stability.