NAM Survey Shows Manufacturing Confidence Improving

National Association of Manufacturers (Huether) - The latest results of The NAM/Industry Week Manufacturing Index show that manufacturers’ confidence improved in the first quarter of 2010 to the highest level in more than two years. There was also an uptick in expectations for sales, pricing power, employment and capital expenditures, signaling that the manufacturing recovery should gain steam over the coming year.

When the economy was entering recession in the fourth quarter of 2007, 70 percent of survey respondents had a positive business outlook. By the first quarter of 2009, the level of optimism had fallen to just 28 percent. Subsequently, the share of survey respondents with a positive business outlook began to improve. In the first quarter of 2010, the share of survey respondents with a positive business outlook had returned to a level of 70 percent — the highest level in nine quarters.