Continued modest growth. That's the latest word on the greater Grand Rapids economy, according to the data collected in the last two weeks of February. New orders, our closely watched index of business improvement, eased to +6, down from +14. In a similar move, the production index backtracked to +8 from +22. Activity in the purchasing offices, which we record as our index of purchases, remained positive but came in at +14, down slightly from last month's +17. The best news for the month came from the employment index, which jumped to +9 from +0. All in all, the pace of the recovery continues to slow. Although there is no evidence at this time to suggest any fundamental new problems, the recovery will probably continue to be restrained. |