Introductory slides from the Reed Construction Data Oct 17, 2013 webinar: "The 2014 Outlook: Emerging Opportunities for Construction"

2. A quick look at
the economy

3. Overview of the economy
 Economic growth - barely acceptable
 Employment growing, but should be faster
 Inflation remains moderate
 Washington politics creating unneeded uncertainty
and disruption for an already struggling economy
 Federal Reserve is still waiting for fiscal policy to
show up to the party, leaving the punchbowl out
 SF housing continues to recover from a low level
 MF housing largely recovered, but still room to grow
 Lenders slowly loosening lending standards

4. Risks to the
economy

5. Risks to the economy
 The federal budget/shutdown
 The federal debt ceiling
 Sharp cuts to federal government spending in the
near term resulting from an agreement on the
budget or debt ceiling
 Europe
 European government debt default
 The euro
 Energy (oil) prices