2009 has been a tumultuous business year and many of our customers have cut back on new equipment purchases. Today in the Wall Street Journal there was an article with the following headline. “Business Bankruptcy Filings Increased 7% in October”
Later in the article there was this gloomy prediction.
“On a year-to-year basis, business bankruptcies shot up 24% in October compared with the same month in 2008. Mr. Williams called that increase “substantial” and said it is a bad omen for the final months of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010.
“Bankruptcy filings are a lagging economic indicator so it’s likely that we’ll see bankruptcy filings increase for the next several quarters,” he said.
Through the first 10 months of the year, 74,832 businesses filed for bankruptcy, a 16% increase from the same period last year.
The total number of October bankruptcies, including both personal and commercial filings, increased 20% from the same month last year. “
It is hard to be optimistic in this business environment, and yet our sales continue to grow as people embrace alternatives to save money.
