Dive Brief:
- Wells Fargo bank's Optimism Quotient measures how construction executives are feeling about the coming year for business, with numbers over 100 indicating a majority are optimistic. The company's most recent survey of 522 execs returned a record-high reading of 124.
- When asked about nonresidential activity in their local markets this year, 55.4% of the respondents said they see an increase, and slightly more said the same thing about residential construction.
- The survey is done by the Wells Fargo Equipment Finance subsidiary in an effort to gauge how its business will be; a poor construction outlook likely would mean poor equipment purchases by contractors or rental companies.
Dive Insight:
The Well Fargo Equipment Finance survey has been going on for 38 years, so it benefits from pre-recession data. The Optimism Quotient hit a low of 42 in 2009, and it has been above 100 for 2012, 2013 and 2014. The survey this year was done on Jan. 8-24 this year. The company said the quotient might have been even higher, but many executives see too much uncertainty in the economic recovery to reach any higher than they did.