/EIN Presswire/ An unscientific survey of several businesses in the North-East and in Florida concluded that an early spring is in the air. Business is growing to some extent. Businessmen are more positive.
Says one sales executive in New York: “There is activity. There is not a lot of closing going on yet. But there is activity. Before Christmas I would get five or six emails and most of those were from co-workers complaining that there was no business being done. Now I get 50 emails a day and less than a handful are from colleagues. The emails are mostly inquiries; few are people asking to buy.”
In Florida, a real estate company marketing executive reported the same sentiment. “The lower priced units are selling slowly. The bigger-ticket units are still sitting on the side-lines.”
If these comments reflect the true state of affairs we can expect sales to begin taking off in the next two months. After that we should see a true, albeit slow, increase in employment. That is when the real spring will be felt.
The anecdotal reports usually come first, and then the official statistics confirm what is happening in the real world. Some of the US automobile companies are already feeling the improved economic environment. Look at Ford (NYSE: F) they had a huge increase in sales in the last month. The next companies to look at are the better retail chains, such as JC Pennies (NYSE: JCP) or home improvement companies such as Lowes Companies (NYSE: LOW). If these firms show good sales and earnings results we might be on the road to true recovery.
A big “if” is whether financial reform will make it through Congress. Chances are good that it will. The bankers are beginning to realize that the country is ready to pull out the pitch forks and torches to go after those crooks.
For the markets all this is good news. The dollar is looking stronger; the stock markets continue to go higher; interest rates will remain low for quite a while.
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