As a successful architectural firm, we are always looking forward. Long range planning is critical to our firm; it’s a service we provide our clients. Forecasting and economic trends play a significant role in that planning.
To that end, I attended an Economic Outlook Breakfast this morning at the Elgin Community College University Business Center. The speaker was Mr. John DeDoncker, President and Chief Executive Officer of THE National Bank. His presentation was very detailed, with a myriad of studies to back up his findings. In summary, his positive predictions for 2012 were:
- The economy will continue its slow recovery.
- Housing will continue to improve slowly.
- Short term rates will continue to stay low.
- Since this is an election year, he anticipates no major legislative initiatives.
As the year moves forward, let’s hope for all of our sakes that the economy continues in a growth mode. This is beneficial to all of us.
If you’d like to research further, some of the sources included:
- Dr. Ed Seifried proprietary index the Seifried & Brew Total Risk Index (“S&B Risk Index”) (http://www.seifriedbrew.com/totalriskindex.html)
- Consumer Confidence Data by the Conference Board (http://www.conference-board.org/data/consumerdata.cfm)
- Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers to gauge how consumers feel the economic environment will change (http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/financial/financial_products/a-z/umichigan_surveys_of_consumers/#tab3)
- The NFIB Research Foundation, which has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since 1974, for thier Small Business Optimism Index (http://www.nfib.com/research-foundation/surveys/small-business-economic-trends) and Jobs Data (http://www.nfib.com/research-foundation/surveys/jobs-report)
