More Signs of Stronger Economic Conditions

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.