Brian Beaulieu's blog

As we move into 2012, the production of agricultural staples such as corn will play an important role in boosting US economic growth. Domestic corn usage has grown from almost 8 billion bushels in 2000 to just over 11 billion bushels in 2011. The USDA reports farmers in 2012 are preparing to plant the most corn since 1944.

Economic growth occurred through January 2012, as evidenced by the US Industrial Production data released by the Federal Reserve this morning. The actual monthly Index of our nation’s industrial output rose from the prior month and is now at its highest point since August 2008. Additional growth is expected.

The USA has gas - a lot of it. We are of course talking about the supply of natural gas in this country; a supply that has become more abundant because of shale-gas and fracturing. The logical economic spin off benefit from this supply trend is remarkably low pricing for this important energy source. The favorable pricing looks likely to continue and it is changing people’s plans on everything from constructing coal, wind, and nuclear power facilities to providing a competitive edge to manufacturers who use natural gas as a primary source of energy.

It is time to get off the sidelines and into the game.  The data coming out of the US and foreign economies is looking better and better.  For example, Wholesale Trade data through November is now available, and the report is good.   Durable Goods Wholesale Trade is up 12.3% year-over-year and Nondurable Goods Trade is up 15.9% year-over-year (annual data in both cases).  These numbers are holding up so well because the industrial base of our economy is more than making up for the lackluster performance of housing and nonresidential construction.  You can see t

While it pays to keep in mind that there is a difference between “looking good” and “looking up”, we are nonetheless pleased to report that the November residential building permits data showed improvement in all parts of the country, even though that improvement may not be evident from the quarterly year-over-year comparison illustrated by the chart.  Even in the Northeast, where the year-over-year comparison is still negative, the number is less negative than it was earlier in 2011.

The global economic score card is quite diverse and in some ways difficult to read. The economy of North America is growing (US, Canada, and Mexico are individually heading higher as well). Europe’s primary economic drivers, Germany, France, and the UK have weakened but may be stabilizing. Brazil has seen some recent improvement in its monthly index but it is still running slightly below the year-ago level. China is growing. Japan is apparently in the early stages of putting together a recovery trend. Russia is growing.