PMPA / ITR Economics Forecast Report May 2024
Dickens’ opening line from Tale of Two Cities, (“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”) certainly applies to the economic impacts of consumer prices being up roughly 22% over the last four years. Lower income consumers feel these far more acutely than middle and higher income consumers- whose spending , it seems, was driving the economy in May. Higher interest rates (“it was the worsrt of times,” redux) are an obstacle to b8usiness capital investment, as manufacturing orders seem to be leveling as capacity utilization slows as well. This report goes beyond these trends to show how a rising trend in the business cycle is beginning to take shape- and we still have not had any of the market’s anticipated FOMC rate cuts. To get the facts on the markets that our industry serves- read the report attached.
The Institute for Trend Research (ITR) quarterly reports focus on major areas of economic growth and decline in key market segments for the Precision Machined Products Industry. They are provided to PMPA members as part of the association’s overall business intelligence program and are used as a management tool to help PMPA members plan for what lies ahead and which markets they should focus on in a complex manufacturing environment.