U.S. National Association of Manufactures

National Association of Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey Manufacturers continued to report solid growth in activity this quarter, with the sector remaining one of the brightest spots in the economy and hitting nine consecutive quarters of record optimism. As revealed in this first quarter 2019 Manufacturers’ Outlook Survey from the National Association of Manufacturers, 89.5 percent of respondents said they felt either somewhat or very positive about their company’s outlook, up from 88.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018. While this represents a slightly lower level of confidence overall as compared to the all-time high reading in the second quarter of 2018 (95.1 percent), it nonetheless continues a streak of highly elevated levels of optimism since the end of 2016. Remarkably, over the past nine quarters, the optimism index has averaged a very robust 91.8 percent. In contrast, it averaged 68.6 percent across 2015 and 2016

NAM stands for The National Association of Manufacturers Note Annual reports are released twice per year.Initial report in the month of March.Revised report in the month of October.