There are six questions that need to be answered to enable successful planning for the rest of 2021 and into 2022. We will examine:
1. Commodity prices and much-talked-about inflationary pressures, which leads into a discussion on interest rates.
2. Varying business demand by sector. We will look at New Orders trends in a broad swath of industries and uncover where the opportunities are and where disappointment lurks.
3. Employment and unemployment with the goal of presenting the reality in the aggregate and the actionable at the industry level.
4. The stock market – it is always of concern and we will look at the near-term trend probabilities for the US stock market.
5. Our forecast of a looming Great Depression. We receive a lot of questions about what the current fiscal and monetary environment will do to our forecast. We will discuss the timeline and what to watch for.
6. The new administration is settling in. We will present a view of what is likely to impact your business in 2021 and discuss some longer-term trends that may result from the proposed stimulus measures and from a robust infrastructure bill.
We will also spend time on an economic update with special attention paid to key leading indicators and what they are saying about the road ahead.
Decision makers should leave the webinar with a solid sense for future economic activity and how they will be impacted. There are solid opportunities and good gains to be realized, but, first, concerns and hesitations must be put to rest. We will do that in March.
Don't miss our upcoming virtual keynote with President Alan Beaulieu and Senior Forecaster Connor Lokar, live from ITR Studio A!
