John Wolz

Fastener executives are more confident about the global economy than the North America but confidence is down for both from a year ago, according to the End of 2007 FIN Survey of the Fastener Industry.

At the end of 2007, the global economic confidence index stood at 3.0, down from 3.2 a year ago. The North American Economic Confidence Index fell to 2.7, down from 3.1.

A 54.9% majority in the 29th annual FIN Survey expressed “Moderate” confidence in the North American economy. But only 8.9% had “Very High” or “High” confidence, while 26.5% pegged their confidence at “Low” and another 4.4% “Very Low.”

A total of 60.2% held “Moderate” confidence in the global economy and another 13.3 were at “High” or “Very High.” A total of 17.1% rated global confidence “Low” and only one respondent replied “Very Low.”
The industry usually rates the North American economy slightly higher than worldwide, but at the end of 2006 at 3.2 the global figure just edged out the 3.1 for North America.
Importers were least confident in both the North American and global economies and distributors were more confident than manufacturers.
The full FIN Survey will be published later this month. �2008 FastenerNews.com