ACCA announced that its December Contractor Comfort Index (CCI) shows that HVACR contractors closed out 2014 feeling positive about short-term growth. The CCI for December 2014 was 71. This was up four points over December 2013 when the CCI was 67.

According to an ASHRAE and AHR Expo survey sent to more than 1,000 HVACR manufacturers worldwide, there is growing optimism for improving business prospects in 2015. Based on survey results, 87 percent of respondents said their prospects for business were either “excellent” (26 percent) or “good” (61 percent) for the coming year.

The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) announced that its June 2014 Outlook Survey panelists expect stronger economic growth for the balance of this year than they did three months ago.

Global demand for HVAC equipment is forecast to increase 5.7 percent annually to $120 billion by 2018, according to a new study from The Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based market research firm.

Optimism about the nation’s economic outlook among United States business leaders reached its highest level since 2004, according to the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report (IBR), a survey of more than 3,300 business leaders in 45 countries.

The global HVAC equipment industry is expected to reach an estimated $105.7 billion by 2019, according to a report by Lucintel, a global management consulting and market research firm.

A growing economy, pent-up demand, competitive mortgage rates, and affordable home prices will keep housing on an upward trajectory through 2015. However, several obstacles exist, according to economists who participated in the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 2014 Spring Construction Forecast Webinar.

 Making sense of the shadowy uncertainties of the future is never simple, but the goal of foresight research isn’t to predict a specific future outcome. It’s to identify the disrupting forces in our markets, our businesses, and our lifestyles while the disruptors are still just whispers; while there’s still time to anticipate them and use them to our advantage.