The market for LED lighting is expected to double, from 16 million units in 2012 to a forecasted 33 million in 2013, and will nearly triple by 2016, according to the NPD DisplaySearch “LED Lighting Market and Forecast Report.”

Savannah, Ga. -- An optimistic outlook from a normally conservative housing analyst closed the final day of the ProDealer Industry Summit (PDIS) today, sending many attendees home with renewed optimism, a new take on demographics and the green light -- in theory at least -- to ask builders for price increases next year.   

The other day, an HCN editor received an email from Cambridge -- the one in England. A senior analyst and Ph.D. was asking for an example of an adhesive, paint or sealant product that has “transformed the market.”

Two thoughts came to mind.

Data released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor statistics show the unemployment rate for February holding at 8.3%. 

The Employment Situation Summary shows employers added 227,000 jobs in the month, slightly more than expected, according to analyst forecasts. It was also the third straight month that employers added more than 200,000 jobs. 

The 8.3% unemployment rate was unchanged from January, but down from 8.9% in February 2011, and way down from 9.7% in February 2010.

A report from Global Hunter Securities describes the new-home market as "finally forming a bottom."

Based on the number of new homes available for sale, the months required to sell them and the total new homes for sale, there's some good news, according to Global Hunter Securities: "We believe the new-home market is finally forming a bottom."

Rents are rising, occupancy rates are high, and the apartment business is about to explode -- all of which spells good news for the multi-family construction business, according to an analyst for John Burns Real Estate Consulting. In her Housing Dimensions blog, VP Lesley Deutch cited pent-up demand from young adults, modest job recovery and government policy as the three top factors pushing this trend.

Arlington, Va. — At last year’s Home Improvement Research Institute (HIRI) Spring Conference, the assembled researchers, guests and partners — all thirsty for good news — were told by Morgan Stanley analyst Ian Sugarman that the modest, pre-bubble year of 1999 is the “new normal.”


Fast-forward to this year’s event, held here at the Doubletree Crystal City, and a very similar group of attendees were told to brace for even more simulated time travel — this time to 1996.


Listening to a company’s quarterly earnings conference can be the equivalent of watching a CEO read a PowerPoint presentation, followed by a group of analysts grilling him on EBIT margins, payout ratios and basis points. Or it can be like panning for gold, with nuggets surfacing about store openings and closings, new products launches, new accounts with retail customers or “terminated” relationships with former customers. Competitors even talk about each other — sometimes by name — with a little prompting from analysts.

Pointing to the power of technology to improve communications to frontline employees, Home Depot EVP of U.S. Stores Marvin Ellison described a tool called "My Success" during the company's recent investor and analyst conference.

Ellison pointed to an example of how it will work in the store, once a department supervisor logs into the system: "If I were a hardware department supervisor, I would get a daily communication from the hardware merchant, making me aware of any product or promotion ideas that were coming online."