Sunday, January 30, 2011

Made in America. Staying in America.

US company Caterpillar reported on Thursday that sales of machinery in North America in the fourth quarter were up 49% from a year ago. Total North American sales for Caterpillar rose 30%. Also, Sales of electrical components in the U.S. in the fourth quarter rose 22% from the same period last year. Another US company Eaton is forecasting growth of 40% from its U.S. trucking business this year compared to 7% outside the U.S. For autos, domestic production is also expected to outpace foreign demand, but not by as much.

That's great news obviously. It appears to be a sign that many businesses finally realize that they have to ramp up investment on industrial goods to be used in the U.S. As a reult, it might create jobs for Americans, and pull up the consumption domestically.

5 comments:

Mason Tice said...

i agree this is a good thing for our economy because it means that more jobs will stay here and it could even lead to creation of new jobs domestically. also with threats of future trade restrictions with china some businesses might not see a need to ships jobs overseas because of higher costs.

Hairong said...

Yep. It's great that the sale of machinery is going up cuz this indicates factories/companies are increasing their capitals.

Wyatt H. said...

It is nice knowing that advanced manufacturers in the United States are doing well globally, despite the recessions. Demands such as India, China, and other high growing countries are increasing, making these companies such as Caterpillar more profitable and this would lead to the creation of jobs domestically.

Tim Schmidt said...

As a large increase in the sale of capital investments such as machinery is always a good sign after a recent financial crisis. This information is biased. I have been watching CAT for over a year in a portfolio of mine, and yes they have grown over %90! But this unreal growth has come as a result of government contracts to use CAT equipment in all of the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act". This contract has helped CAT tremendously over the last year, but its likely that as soon as the "ARRC" contract runs out, so will CAT's unspeakable growth.

babuck said...

My dad is an attorney for caterpillar and although their sales are up the company is suffering from the corporate tax increase in Illinois which seriously cuts into profits. Also, the income tax increase hurts the individual employees.