NEMA’s EBCI Index Bounces Back into Expansion Territory in October

With respondents no longer expressing concern over monetary policy uncertainty and noting that the conclusion of the 2016 election season was near, NEMA’s Electroindustry Business Confidence Index (EBCI) returned to expansionary territory with a score of 55.6 points. The vast majority of respondents, 78%, reported conditions unchanged in October, compared to 47% last month. Only 6% faced worse conditions this month versus 29% in September. The share of respondents seeing better conditions fell 7 points from 24% last month to 17% in October.

Bouncing right back to 66.7 points this month, the future conditions index moved further into the range indicative of expansion after dipping to 52.9 points in September. The proportion of October’s respondents expecting conditions to be unchanged in six months matches that of respondents expecting conditions to be better: 44%. Those shares were 47% and 29%, respectively, last month. As with the current conditions, the proportion of our panelists expecting conditions to be worse six months hence dropped by 13 percentage points from 24% last month to only 11% in October.

The EBCI Index is a monthly survey of senior executives at electrical manufacturers published by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), Rosslyn, Va. Any score over the 50-point level indicates a greater number of panelists see conditions improving than see them deteriorating.