COLORADO BUSINESS LEADERS’ CONFIDENCE WANES SLIGHTLY, SAYS CU LEEDS SCHOOL INDEX
Jul 1st
Colorado business leaders remained confident, although generally less optimistic about the economy looking ahead to the third quarter, according to the most recent quarterly Leeds Business Confidence Index, or LBCI, released today by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
For the third quarter of 2011, the LBCI posted a reading of 51.6, down from 56.8 in the second quarter. Confidence waned across all indices, although most remained above the neutral mark of 50.
Expectations for the national economy were once again especially bleak, falling back below neutral after two consecutive quarters of optimism, according to Leeds School economist and Business Research Division Executive Director Richard Wobbekind, who conducts the quarterly survey.
“The overall economy has been damaged by uncertainty — the uncertainty of consumers about the strength of the recovery and the strength of the job market and the uncertainty of businesses about demand for their products — and I think that uncertainty has worked its way into our index and other national indexes,” Wobbekind said.
An index reading of 50 is neutral. A reading greater than 50 indicates positive expectations, while an index lower than 50 indicates negative expectations, according to Leeds School researcher Brian Lewandowski, who compiles the survey results for the index.
“I think our business leaders want to see some of their concerns such as the international debt issues, higher oil prices and other uncertainties get worked out, and fortunately right now some of these things are getting worked out,” Wobbekind said. “They’re backpedaling a little bit and they’re not quite as confident, but overall they have a decent level of confidence.”
Confidence turned negative for the national economy, decreasing nearly 10 points from 53.6 to 44.0, while the state index fell from 55.5 to 51.2.
Capital expenditures had an index reading of 53.4, down from 56.1 last quarter. The sales and profit expectations of business leaders are positive, but subdued, according to Lewandowski. The sales index was 55.8, and the profit index was 53.1.
To access the complete report visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/publication/237. To view a short video of Wobbekind discussing the index visit http://www.colorado.edu/news and click on the Leeds Business Confidence Index story.
Sort yard community meeting scheduled for July 12 in Nederland
Jun 30th
Boulder County, Colo. – The Boulder County Forest Health Initiative invites Nederland-area residents to attend a community meeting to discuss the first year of operations of the Nederland Area Community Forestry Sort Yard program.
What: Community meeting for residents to provide input on operations at the Nederland Area Community Forestry Sort Yard
When: Tuesday, July 12, 7 p.m.
Where: Nederland Community Center, 750 Highway 72 North
The sort yard was opened this year as a new service for residents in the Nederland area, and the county wants to make sure it is providing residents with the most useful, best practices possible for collecting and processing logs and slash cut from their lands.
County staff will kick off the meeting with a presentation about sort yard usage, total days of operation and the amount of material collected during the first year of operation. The second part of the meeting will focus on gathering public feedback about how the first year of operations went for residents in the Nederland community.
No RSVP is needed to attend. Community members may email comments and suggestions prior to the meeting to pinebeetle@bouldercounty.org.
The Community Forestry Sort Yard program was established by Boulder County to help landowners fight bark beetle infestations, create better defensible space around homes and communities and to help create healthier forest conditions in the foothills of the county. Two sort yard locations are open each summer on a rotating schedule to provide residents a convenient free of charge location to dispose of logs and slash cut from their land.
For more information about the program, bark beetle management or general questions backyard forest management, contact Boulder County Outreach Forester Ryan Ludlow at 720-564-2641 or pinebeetle@bouldercounty.org.
