Manufacturers remain optimistic for the near term
NEW YORK -- Manufacturers' outlook for near-term business conditions remains optimistic despite a decline in operating conditions in the fourth quarter, a Dun & Bradstreet Corp. survey found.</br></br>Manufacturers' outlook for the rest of the year appears uncertain amid fears of rising interest rates and slowing demand for new orders, according to the D&B survey.</br></br>In a separate survey, D&B found the construction industry less shaken by interest rates and considerably more confident about the near term.</br></br>D&B said its January survey of 1,000 manufacturing executives shows conditions during the past three months indicate "what can best be described as the beginning of the end of the current boom," Douglas P. Handler, D&B's manager of econometric analysis, said. Manufacturers, he added, "are adjusting their [long-term] outlook in preparation for rising interest rates, slowed demand and an associated impact on unemployment levels."</br></br>Despite recent reports of a booming manufacturing industry, D&B's survey showed a deterioration in operating conditions in nearly every segment within the industry during the past three months; new orders and production levels both slid 10 points, to 25, while exports declined 3 points, to three. "Conditions still by and large are good," Mr. Handler said, but November and December were "pretty much the peak."