(Good) Signs of the Times

Says PIA's Davis, "It still remains to be seen how the problems with Asia will work their way through. Certainly there will be a negative impact on the economy, but I don't think that it will be enough to swing us into recession." Davis, however, sees a more ominous side to all of the recent growth and prosperity: the fact that in the midst of it all, many companies are not growing."It's a rising tide, but we're not in an era where a rising tide lifts all ships," he says. "It's sinking a few of them, meaning that beneath the surface you've still got a lot of them that have big problems. Everything's great in terms of overall market growth, but underneath it's very competitive." Davis says he routinely sees business surveys in which a great deal of firms say their sales are up 20 percent to 30 percent, but a good many others say sales are down by the same percentage. "Maybe when you average them it's up 6 percent and it looks nice and stable," he says.