HARDI’s monthly TRENDS report shows average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 19.8% in May 2018.

The average annualized growth for the 12 months through May 2018 is 6.1%.

“Cooling season got off to a slow start with cool temps in March and April,” HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus said. “Cooling-degree days were well above normal in much of the country last month and that is reflected in that big gain for the month.”

“This is perhaps the most interesting and troubling time for the US economy in many years,” HARDI Senior Economist Connor Lokar said.  “While we are flying high at the moment, there are immense threats to our economy’s growth that are worsening by the month. The U.S. Purchasing Manager Index, JP Morgan Global PMI, OECD Leading Indicator for the U.S., U.S. Corporate Profits and the rates-of-change for the S&P 500, both ITR leading indicators, various utilization rates and the personal savings rate are in agreement regarding our expectation for business-cycle decline in 2019.

“The days sales outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, reached its highest level in four years this month,” Loftus added. “Spikes like that happen after a sales surge like we experienced in May.  A correction over the next couple months is the normal pattern.”