NAPL Confidence Reading Lowest Point in 10 Years

Just 21.0% of the printers surveyed by NAPL now expect business to improve during the six months ahead, down from 23.4% in February, 27.3% in January, and 34.1% a year ago. It's also the lowest reading in the 10-year history of the NAPL Printers' Confidence Index. Nearly 24.0% of printers surveyed now expect business to decline, up sharply from 10.8% last spring.

A total of 39.9% of Western printers expect business to decline, while just 10.7% expect improvement. A year ago, twice as many expected improvement (25.6%) versus decline (12.8%).

In the Midwest, more printers still expect business to improve (23.3%) than decline (16.4%). But the margin has narrowed significantly since last spring, when 35.6% anticipated improvement and 12.2% expected decline.

Among Southern printers, 24.1% expect improvement, down from 37.5% a year ago, while 27.8% foresee decline, up from just 7.1% in March 2000.

In the East, the percentage of printers expecting improvement has fallen to 15.6% from 24.4% over the last 12 months, while the percentage anticipating decline has nearly doubled, to 24.4% from 13.2%.