Last month, I wrote about how the Fed may start tapering the stimulus it has injected into the economy, drastically increasing liquidity against the eruption of the pandemic and the sudden recession it thrust upon the global economy, and the U.S. in particular. While the general tapering of the Fed stimulus won’t have any real impact on our daily business…
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The Fed May Scale Back Stimulus
by Pierre G. Villere The Federal Reserve Bank may very well have a more direct influence on our business lives than any other federal agency, and it is does so quietly in the background while wielding an enormous economic stick. It has a number of tools and mechanisms at its disposal to manage inflation and promote employment, the most well-known…
Read MoreThe Economic Fun Is Here – Will Delta Derail It?
Various reports from our industry press mark a jump in ready mixed concrete production in April, which is just a thumbnail indicator of the health of the overall economy. Production was estimated at 35.6 million cubic yards, an astonishing 20 percent higher than in April 2020. Moreover, the estimated production nationally through April is 114.3 million cubic yards, approximately 6.8…
Read MoreEquipment Distributors clarify “right to repair” distortions
An expansive White House order issued under the banner of “promoting competition in the American economy” presents 72 initiatives for more than a dozen federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, which is encouraged to limit “equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to use independent repair shops.” The order instructs the FTC chairman to consider working with colleagues to exercise…
Read MoreNo Worries – Interest Rates Won’t Rise Anytime Soon
There has been some recent panic in the financial and mortgage markets over the concern that interest rates seem to be headed up. This has happened suddenly and stands in contrast to what I have been saying from the beginning of the pandemic: interest rates will stay low for a very long time. So what changed? It began when a…
Read MoreEagle Materials earns last laugh on Monday morning quarterback
Two years ago we saw Dallas-based Eagle Materials Inc., slightly reeling from a fracking sand production play, heed an activist investor’s proposal for a Light Materials (wallboard, paperboard) and Heavy Materials (cement, aggregates, concrete) business split. The action had the aura of an opportunistic New Yorker swaggering into Texas to shed light on running a construction materials business. Eagle Materials…
Read MoreLead economist tracks pandemic’s waning effects on construction
Sources: Associated Builders & Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff An Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that the construction industry added 110,000 jobs in March, bringing to 931,000 the number gained since April 2020, or nearly 84 percent of those jobs lost during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. The construction unemployment rate…
Read MorePCA projects minor 2020-21 shipment drops, or gain, under two recovery models
Sources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; CP staff
Portland Cement Association Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Ed Sullivan offers two U.S. cement consumption scenarios around “U” or “W” shaped economic recovery curves, with respective 2020 and 2021 figures of -3.4 percent or +1.7 percent and -4.8 percent and -2.7 percent—this year’s projections measured against 2019 shipments.
Read MoreMarket experts gauge global economy’s impact on domestic construction
Source: Allen-Villere Partners, New Orleans
Strong stock market performance plus progress in U.S. and China trade discussions have helped temper concerns of an economic slowdown moving into 2020. In his latest Concrete Products dispatch, “Will headwinds from the global economy affect us?,” however, leading construction materials industry management consultant Pierre Villere discusses a potential 180-degree shift in market forces that could impact concrete demand.
Read MorePCA tames projections for 2019, 2020 cement consumption gains
Sources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; CP staff
The PCA Market Intelligence Group cement consumption forecast paints a limited growth pattern from 2017 levels, with this year trending a 2.9 percent gain, followed by 2.6 percent and 1.6 percent bumps in 2019-2020.
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