Friday, September 25, 2009

Durable goods down...Office Furniture Down...

Durable goods orders "unexpectedly" dropped 2.4% in August, registering the largest decline since January of 2009 (to see the report click HERE).

Not surprisingly leading manufacturers in the Office Furniture industry announced large year over year revenue declines. Steelcase Inc. reported a 35.9% drop and Herman Miller Inc. recorded a 32.4% revenue decline for the comparable fiscal quarters. Both organizations pledged to maintain their current spending cuts, with Herman Miller commenting they "don't see changing...from an every-other-Friday-off" work schedule for at least three months.

Steelcase's President did comment that "demand levels appear to be stabilizing in advance of a potential broader ecomomic recovery..."

What does all of this mean? We are kicking along the bottom right now...If you have the means to buy furniture, this might be the best time to do it - prices are only going to go up from here.

No comments: