January 2011 Macro Pulse -- Climbing Out of the Well

Because enough indicators have shown some improvement in the last few months, many analysts have concluded the U.S. economy has turned the corner and is on the mend. When these recent improvements are placed in context, however, perhaps a more apt analogy for the state of the economy would be that of someone who has fallen into a well, and -- with no one around to help -- must save himself by scaling the wet and slippery walls. Yes, perhaps the first few feet have been successfully negotiated, but one slip could send the economy hurtling back down the shaft. To be declaring victory while still effectively “at the bottom” seems to be rather premature and a denial of very credible obstacles and risks.

What obstacles and risks do we see? Click here to find out by reading the entire January 2011 Macro Pulse.

The Macro Pulse blog is a commentary about recent economic developments that affect the forest products industry. That commentary provides context for our 24-month forecast, which is contained in the monthly Economic Outlook newsletter available through Forest2Market. The monthly Macro Pulse newsletter summarizes the previous 30 days of commentary available on this website.