ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2014 and the good times roll 2015

You need GDP growth of 2.5% to maintain your business RULE OF THUMB You need GDP growth of 2.5% to maintain your business

GENERAL ECONOMIC NOTES 2014 will be a strong growth year. Biggest issue will be how high will interest rates grow.   The driving sectors of the economy—housing, auto, exports and the stock market.

2014 will have some good events Farm prices will weaken some   Exploration for Oil and Gas will continue strong Export will continue to grow Housing prices in major markets will continue to increase. Moderate growth in nonresidential building. Manufacturing moving back to the U.S.

2014 Will still have some problem areas: Anything to do with coal mining will continue to contract   Problems in congress will continue making it difficult to achieve any real progress How much the Obama care problems will in our daily lives is a question

UNITED STATES CONSTRUCTION

Notice all three indicators of construction activity are growing Notice all three indicators of construction activity are growing. Better prospects for small and medium sized equipment. Increased demand for rental machines—large machines will see big surge in rental demand. . Demand for equipment continues to grow. Teir 4 machines are coming to auction. In general used machine prices will stay soft.

Note we still have a long way to go to get back the activity level at the beginning of the decade. The market continues to grow but more and more machinery needs are being filled with rental equipment..

U.S. CONSTRUCTION MACHINERY UNITS

Be careful of big equipment prices Mining world wide is in the middle of big changes.

RENTAL The rental market is changing the structure of the equipment business. More contractors will be buying used equipment from dealers. Note the changes in the type of machines seen at recent auctions.