Tatum/Roulston Report

The Tatum Survey is reflecting caution this month across the board. As last month showed general optimism across all areas from capital spending to employment and capital availability, this month showed relatively no change month to month in most of these categories reflecting some degree of pause and stability. This is reflective of what we hear in our research calls with companies. As optimistic as all the pundits are we must remember they are trying in most cases to get investors to act so general optimism prevails. In reality there is no visibility. Taxes, Health Care reform, and regulation is all we hear from executives who appear to like the improvement they see but are concerned with Europe all the government recent activity and even the impact of the recent oil spill in the Gulf creates a degree of uncertainty as a recent CEO stated how can oil prices not go up?

At Roulston we feel markets are reflecting general liquidity availability having improved. But the volatility that has returned reflects a lack of visibility and confidence in any time frame beyond that which can be seen right now on order books. That leads us to believe that any uncertainty like what we have seen in the BP disaster or European Sovereign debt issue can potentially create volatility and immediately. A dependence on government solutions in Europe shows can be troublesome. Why that is becoming more the norm in this country defies rational economic thought. As we look at increasing governmental debt now strangling cities and states, the federal government seems oblivious to what clearly is an issue everywhere else.

To read the full survey click here.