Things Are Looking Up

According to a Dun & Bradstreet survey, manufacturing company executives are predicting continued growth through September of this year.

D&B's manufacturing survey is summarized by three composite Industrial Sentiment Indexes (ISIs), each of which is made up of five component indexes: production (up 3 points), new orders (up 7 points), unfilled orders (up 5 points), exports (up 3 points) and unfinished goods inventories (up slightly).

The overall Industrial Sentiment Index, covering July, August, and September, rose three points to 21. The results for the coming 12 months are available from Dun & Bradstreet upon request.

Ranking America's Metro Areas

Looking for a quick reference book that will allow you to compare the U.S.'s 351 metropolitan areas in terms of living costs, transportation, job outlook, health care, higher education, climate, crime, recreation and the arts?

The latest edition of Places Rated Almanac is just such a book. Written by Expansion Management Magazine Contributing Editor David Savageau, this exhaustively-researched reference book is a must for company executives engaged in looking for the best place to expand or relocate their company.

By ranking each of the metro areas from best to worst in nine different areas, location searchers are able to focus in on areas of greatest importance -- say, higher education and transportation -- while still being able to get a good feel for the climate or cultural activities. While this book is no substitute for an on-site visit, it will sure help you cut down on your initial, wide-scale research of cities at the beginning of your site search.

Places Rated Almanac is published by Macmillan Travel and is available in most book stores.