ITW CEO: Housing woes will hit bottom next year
Industrial Distribution staff -- Industrial Distribution, 9/15/2008 6:59:00 AM
The downturn in the domestic residential construction market will bottom out near the end of next year, according to Illinois Tool Works Inc. CEO David Speer, the Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Ill.) reported via the Bloomberg news service.The diversified manufacturer’s CEO told analysts at a Morgan Stanley conference in California that housing starts will drop to about 900,000 by the end of 2009, leading to a slow but sure recovery.
“I don't think it will be a very fast ramp up," Speer said, adding that about 5 percent to 6 percent of Glenview, Ill.-based ITW’s sales are directly linked to the housing market.
As for the rest of the industrial economy, Speer predicted weakness through the end of 2008.
“I would describe what I see in the North American economy at the moment, from an industrial perspective, as obviously weak,” he said. “I don't see any significant catalysts that are going to change that as we head into 2009.”
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