Modestly positive and still improving. That's the latest word on the Greater Grand Rapids industrial economy, according to the data collected in the last two weeks of November. New Orders, our index of business improvement, advanced to +13 from +9. The Production index remained virtually unchanged, but retreated to +7 from +8. The Employment index posted a gain, rising to +24 from +15. It was good to see that the percentage of respondents reporting staff reductions edged lower to 7 percent from 13 percent. Hence, the slower movement we reported last month appears to be just a short-term interruption. Our local economy continues to be stronger than the rest of the country, and even the rest of the world. At least for the next few months, the momentum is positive, and we expect this trend to continue. |