Economy looks bright to company credit managers

The economy’s future looks bright from the desk of companies’ credit managers, according to a survey this month.

The National Association of Credit Management said an index tied to its monthly survey jumped in July. It’s official reading was 56, its highest since last October. It had been 53.4 in June, which was lower than in May and April.

Any reading above 50 indicates an expanding economy, similar to indexes based on surveys of companies’ purchasing managers. Purchasing manager survey results for the nation and the Midwest are expected out Monday.

Chris Kuehl, an economist for the credit management group, called the latest credit manager survey results impressive. The higher index reading signals stronger growth in the nation’s gross domestic product, or total output.

“Think about that for a moment – (that’s) as high as it was when the GDP numbers for the country were trending at close to 5 percent growth,” Kuehl said in the group’s announcement. “This is a pretty stunning turnaround.”

This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 12:03 PM with the headline "Economy looks bright to company credit managers."