Articles Tagged with ''economics''

According to the American Supply Association’s Monthly Economic Report, forecasting shows GDP growth moderating, oil and freight costs stabilizing, and key construction indicators posting mixed signals heading into mid-2026. Economists contributing to ASA’s reports note that "economic risk remains elevated, but channel fundamentals are stronger than national headlines suggest," pointing to continued resilience in wholesale sales trends and contractor backlogs.

Q3 GDP trended at 4% based on the latest available data, but much of the visibility needed is still delayed. Most estimates suggest the government shutdown, because of its duration, may have brought Q3 GDP down to 1.5%. This is still reasonable given the circumstances. 

As 2025 comes to a close, it’s time for me to review my predictions from last year and predict ten more trends for 2026. Just like last year, I will avoid predicting where the stock market will be at the end of 2026; instead, I will stick to identifying trends that supply houses will find important in the upcoming year. My scorecard shows I got 7.25 out of 12 right. With all of that, let's jump in and review my 2025 predictions.

President Trump recently signed several Executive Orders (EOs) to rescind and modify regulations in various sectors, including energy production, defense policy, and reverse the repeal of several regulations based on recent Supreme Court decisions, such as Loper Bright.

PHCP-PVF experts remain positive for the outlook of this year, citing technology advancement, housing demand and the societal push toward greenhouse gas emission elimination as reasons for expected growth.

The annual ASA-Supply House Times distributor roundtable, which takes place at NETWORK each year, has always been published in two parts as distributor members tackle topics from supply chain status and inventory management to government affairs and hiring.

Heading into 2023, experts remain optimistic about the health of the PHCP-PVF market despite a few impending factors: a possible recession, inflation, ongoing labor concerns, price increases and supply chain disruption.

As 2022 comes to a close it is now time to review my predictions from last year as well as predict ten more trends I see as we enter 2023. Just like last year, I will stay away from prognosticating about where the stock market will be at this end of the year; instead, I will stick to identifying trends that supply houses will find important in this upcoming year. With all that being said, let's jump right in and review my 2022 predictions.

On Aug. 16, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). While the bill claims it will, “make a historic down payment on deficit reduction to fight inflation, invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing, and reduce carbon emissions by roughly 40% by 2030,” plumbing associations aren’t convinced the IRA will do much — if anything — to reduce inflation or benefit small businesses or the American consumer.