Bottoming out: That's the latest word on the greater Grand Rapids economy, according to the data collected in the last two weeks of April. For the first time since January 2008, new orders, our index of business improvement, came back to positive at a very modest +2, up from -5 in our last report. Rebounding from an all-time record low of -57 just four months ago, this is a positive sign. The production index remained modestly negative at -2, up from -7. Activity in the purchasing offices moderated to -21 from -42. The index of employment came in at -14, up from -27. Although the index of new orders has flipped to positive, all of our other statistics remain negative. Hence, we are not yet to the point of declaring the beginning of a recovery. However, it is a reasonable bet that we may have reached the bottom of the current slide, at least for now. |