Unemployment rates . Current unemployment rates hover close to the lowest number in 30 years. Healthy real estate market . There is 8.6 percent average office vacancy, the lowest reading in 25 years. Productivity growth .
Corporations are a lot more efficient today.
Equity market . While not a good year for the equity market, price earning ratios will rise in 2001, primarily due to the Fed s lowering of interest rates of between 50-100 basis points. There s still a lot of uncertainty but in the second half of the year, the equity market will pick up and we ll see 6-8 percent growth. The economy will slow down, probably to more than half of last year, but the U.S. economy is not headed for a recession.