Future bright for US economy post-2013

Sep 13, 2012 | 12:33 PM | Michael Cowden

Tags  MSCI, economic forecast conference, Eli Lustgarten, Longbow Research, heavy equipment, energy independence, Timken, Sandvik Caterpillar

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — If the U.S. economy can muddle through the next 12 to 18 months, it might be poised to enjoy a bull run for three to five years, according to one analyst.

"We’re all here this year, and we’ll all be here next year despite what you might have heard," Eli Lustgarten said in referring to pessimistic outlooks presented by other speakers at the Metals Service Center Institute’s economic forecast conference in Schaumburg, Ill.

Among the tailwinds set to bolster the U.S. economy in the long term are the potential for greater energy independence and trends bringing manufacturing capacity back from abroad, said Lustgarten, senior vice president and senior analyst at Independence, Ohio-based Longbow Research.

"Supply chains are too stretched," Lustgarten said, and it no longer makes sense to manufacture products in Asia and ship them to the rest of the world given freight costs, long lead times and potential disruptions, such as last year’s flooding in Thailand and the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that struck Japan in March 2011.....