Capital Spending Plans So Far Appear To Be Affected Little by Stock Plunge
It was business as usual last week at Minster Machine Co., Minster, Ohio.</br></br>While the stock market was in turmoil, manufacturing executives from a number of companies visited the Minster plant in western Ohio, looked at the latest models of metal-forming presses -- and bought.</br></br>"Our orders were normal," says Harold J. Winch, Minster's president and chairman. There were no order cancellations, he says, and the company picked up a $1.7 million order from an auto manufacturer, along with several smaller ones.</br></br>Early indications are that last week's stock market crash so far has had little direct impact on capital spending decisions by the nation's businesses. However, if the market drop causes a consumer-led economic slowdown, corporate investment would drop some months from now, capital goods producers say.</br></br>Machine tool builders reported a 35% rise in September orders from weak year-earlier levels. And industry executives say business continues to be relatively good this month. September orders at domestic machine tool plants totaled $183.2 million, up from $135.3 million a year earlier, the National Machine Tool Builders' Association reported. That was a gain of 29% from August, but August traditionally is a weak order month because many decision makers are on vacation.