The economic and manufacturing news coming out of the UK and the US is beginning to sound like we may be headed into a dip.
“Confidence among Britain’s manufacturers improved markedly this month, an industry survey showed, while factory orders continued to fall” as reported in the UK Guardian
Then; “The U.K. economy shrank in the first quarter as Britain slid into its first double-dip recession since the 1970s, forcing Prime Minister David Cameron to defend his spending cuts in Parliament” as reported in Bloomberg
The Guardian then reports that “Manufacturing is still Growing”.
Meanwhile, here in the US, the WSJ reports: “Orders for long-lasting goods suffered their biggest drop in over three years in March, pointing to a weak finish to the first quarter for the manufacturing sector”.
With the upcoming elections, it will be about “The Economy, Stupid”. With manufacturing, it’s “Incoming Orders” that determine the future. During my trip the other day to Janesville, my queries of other manufacturers said they see a slowing of incoming new orders so this is a trend that will need to be followed.
