NEMA’s EBCI Indexes Remain at Stratospheric Levels as Execs See Better Days Ahead

No month has fared better when compared to the previous month than Sept. 2020 scored vis-a-vis August. With not one report of outright worse conditions, and nearly three quarters of NEMA execs indicating a better business environment, the current conditions gauge rose nearly 17 points to an all-time high reading of 85.3 points.

The ElectroIndustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) 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.

The tenor of respondent comments helps to highlight a caveat regarding the topline number. Despite the record-setting reading, business was not necessarily booming but was better across most of the electroindustry when assessed against last month. As one panelist noted, conditions were “improving slowly.”

The future conditions component did not set a record this month. Nevertheless, the measure of confidence in business conditions facing the electroindustry six months from now expanded considerably from an already-elevated 84.2 points in August to reach 91.2 points in September. As with the current component, none of the respondents indicated an expectation for worse conditions, and less than 20% even expected conditions to remain unchanged. Most comments were more unambiguously upbeat than were those about current conditions, with suggestions of a strong recovery ahead.