Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/222066
in foc us trending Year to close strongly Business services, small business financing show positive trends T he upward trajectory of the U.S. economy and markets has continued through mid-November, setting the stage for a strong finish to the year. With most upwards trends having started many months ago, 2013 will go into the books as a prime example of the old adage, "Let the trend be your friend." So what will 2014 hold? If history is any indication, trends are often difficult to stop. And as much as there has been a supportive trend in the U.S. equity markets, there have been many examples of downward trending markets as well. Look no further than the bond market, the foreign emerging markets or the commercial real estate market as examples of downtrends. clearTREND offers monthly market analysis and research on Northeast Wisconsin's key economic sectors. This month, we highlight the business services and small business financing sectors of the economy – both currently show generally positive trends. We also feature Calumet County. This month's clearTREND U.S. Economic Health clearTREND U.S. Economic Health Index: This index measures more than 130 unique U.S. market sectors to determine how many are expanding, stable, or contracting. More than 50% of expanding sectors are healthy, while less than 50% are not. IndexTM shows continued strength, with 73 percent of U.S. economic sectors expanding (up from 66 percent a month ago). Couple that with a sizable drop in the number of contracting sectors: now only 9 percent compared to 21 percent in November. "The drop in contracting sectors is good news," says Mark Scheffler of The Appleton Group. "Despite everything we hear about the dire state of the economy, our data clearly shows improvement." Sector Focus Business Services Ticker Trend Began Confidence Description Aecom Technology Corp ACM 10/11/13 89.66% American Campus Communities Inc ACC 5/20/13 89.29% Avery Dennison Corp AVY 8/24/12 82.50% Canon Inc CAJ 11/6/13 82.22% Manpower Inc MAN 5/17/13 76.32% Pitney Bowes Inc PBI 2/19/13 74.30% Steelcase Inc SCS 7/9/13 81.33% Xerox Corp XRX 1/7/13 71.43% Financing Small Business Description Ticker Trend Began Confidence 10/10/13 79.40% 10/28/13 76.19% FNB Corp FNB 10/30/13 79.07% Huntington Bancshares Inc HBAN 12/28/12 76.98% MB Financial Inc MBFI 9/27/13 78.18% PrivateBancorp Inc PVTB 10/16/13 76.09% Expanding: 73% 73% BXS BAC Stable: 19% BancorpSouth Inc Bank of America Corp Contracting: 9% US Bancorp USB 1/8/13 81.72% Waterstone Financial Inc WSBF 10/3/13 79.49% Calumet County - Top Employment Sectors Description Trend Began Confidence Poor Fair Good Excellent Data as of 11/11/2013 Key: = uptrend = downtrend Ticker = trading symbol (individual securities only) Trend Began = date on which current trend was identified Confidence = clearTREND's historic success rate in generating capital gains based on accurate trend identification 40 | Insight • D e c e m b e r 2 013 U.S. Banks Sector 11/9/13 84.91% U.S. Beverages Sector 10/18/13 86.84% U.S. Construction & Materials Sector 10/4/13 82.14% U.S. Food Producers Sector 8/16/12 99.00% U.S. Health Care Sector 10/9/13 93.33% U.S. Leisure Goods Sector 8/24/12 89.19% U.S. Recreational Products Sector 8/1/12 75.00% U.S. Restaurants Sector 9/26/13 87.23% U.S. Transportation Services Sector 9/16/13 86.67% w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m