Bill Wood

Bill Wood: "Now that we are past the election, it is time for me to offer a few politically tinged opinions on behalf of U.S. manufacturers and anyone else who relies upon the U.S. economy for their livelihoods."

Bill Wood: "The predominant trend in the motor vehicle industry is a bellwether for national economic trends, and it also affects a sizable portion of the plastics industry."

PN Economics Editor Bill Wood is cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the U.S. plastics industry following the Fed's half-point interest rate cut last week.

Plastics News Economics Editor Bill Wood:  "I was mildly surprised, and somewhat relieved, by the decision to start with a cut of a half a point. High interest rates have clearly constrained the manufacturing sector and the plastics industry for well over a year now, and there are indications these constraints were getting worse at an accelerating pace."

A major revision in the Federal Reserve's employment data allowed room to breathe for the economy to switch out of "inflation control mode" and into more of an "economic growth" mode, according to PN Economics editor Bill Wood. Bill parses out the latest data and what it means for the plastics manufacturing sectors as we head into the 2024 election.

U.S. employment data — including recent revisions — point to a soft landing for the U.S. economy, according to PN Economics Editor Bill Wood.

From an economist's perspective, this has been a summer packed with surprises so far. Most of these surprises were unpleasant, and all of them could eventually have a substantial impact on the U.S. economy.

The stock market is sharply declining, the unemployment rate is rising, and the Federal Reserve remains inactive, prompting concerns about a potential recession. Despite the troubling signs, Plastics News Economics Editor Bill Wood argues that the current data does not yet indicate an imminent recession, instead favoring the idea of a market correction.

Bill Wood: "The stock market was indeed beginning to look a bit irrational as we started the second half of 2024, but history has taught me the stock market tends to correct itself regardless of my opinion. Nevertheless, there are some other trends or risks in the overall economy that have me concerned at the present time because they do not appear to be self-correcting."

Poor housing start data and high federal budget deficits are two of the data sets that have PN Economics Editor Bill Wood concerned about the outlook for the rest of 2024.

Demand has been sluggish for plastics so far in 2024 but supply-demand cycles aren't always the key indicators for materials trends. Plastics News Economics Editor Bill Wood discusses the latest market trends and what to expect for the latter half of 2024.