One of our vendors, a contract manufacturer, recently told me that the way to tell how the economy is doing is to look at makers of power supplies (which are in almost everything) and at transportation. If the trucks aren't running, you know we're in trouble. I'm not sure how to go about looking at these, however. For instance, there are lots of economic indicators that are based on electronics, but are not broken down into types ebyond semiconductors and "other".
Asian semiconductor companies are not doing very well, but most US companies are trudging along. Meanwhile, European companies like ST (previously SGS Thompson) are doing well because they have been able to come into the US and undersell all the US companies.
Does anybody know how to go about testing this man's theory? Where would I be able to find info about domestic shipping trends?
Julie Shearer julie at siliconengines-ltd.com