Another sign of improving business conditions comes from Tatum Partners in their survey, available here. Tatum provides financial managers to many companies that need a highly talented CFO or controller–but not full time. As a result, their large cadre of partners is a great gauge of how the economy is going.
The Tatum numbers turned down last year, but now look pretty good:
An economic forecast based on this survey would be rosier than the current consensus economic forecast.
Business Planning Implications: Plan for improving economic conditions. Do your contingency planning for both the upside (can you meet customer demand) as well as the demand side (what will I do if revenue falls).
Investment Outlook: Don’t shun capital goods, and give consumer cyclicals some thought.