September 17, 2008

Click here to download a pdf of the results.

Concern over the state of the U.S. economy has grown among MDM readers over the past six months even as more believe conditions may soon stabilize, according to the twice yearly MDM Survey on the Economy conducted in August. A similar survey was conducted in February.
 
Manufacturers who responded to the survey expressed the most concern over the current state of the economy, with 85.1% saying they were "very concerned"or "concerned."Distributors showed slightly less concern, with 80.3% being "very concerned"or "concerned"in the August survey. Readers who believe the economy will worsen dropped to 28.6% from 46.5% in February. More than 13% ...

Recent events in the financial industry -Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection, Bank of America buying Merrill Lynch, the government stepping in to shore up AIG -have left many wondering how these events together with other factors dampening the economy could affect individual sectors.
 
Don Norman, an economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, tells MDM that's a good question to be considering but not one that manufacturers and those supplying manufacturers should necessarily panic about, thanks to a solid export market. The reality is that strength in the overall manufacturing sector may be keeping the current economic situation from being a lot worse than it already is. According to Norman, except for companies closely linked to the housing or automotive ...