Businesses Project Strong International Growth For Their Firms in 2016

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Jim Glassman, senior economist at JPMorgan Chase says, “While business leaders admittedly see challenges overseas, they continue to see opportunities at home and anticipate positive growth in international markets over the next few years."

In the Business Leaders Outlook 2016, the top challenges facing businesses are revenue/sales growth (74%); limited supply of talent (40%), especially in the construction (63%) and services (50%) industries; and, managing labor costs (40%) were also noted challenges.

Despite challenges and overall global pessimism, businesses nevertheless project strong international growth for their companies. Among the 60% who are globally active, seven out of 10 (70%) expect their overseas sales to increase in the next five years.

Read more:  JPM:  U.S. Businesses Optimistic on Growth; Uncertain About Economy

Note:  In the Business Leaders Outlook 2016, you can find out what nearly 1,400 middle market executives think about the economy and how they're planning for the year ahead.

A Bright Spot in Global Trade?

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According to Mike Cavanagh, co-chief executive officer of JPMorgan's Corporate and Investment Bank, China is poised to serve as one of the bright spots for the expansion of its global business.  As a result, the company plans to continually invest in China.

"This is one of the most exciting markets in the world," Cavanagh said. "We have our own locally incorporated bank with seven branches across China and a number of joint ventures in asset management, securities, underwriting and futures and options. We promise to continue investing and the momentum is really strong."

Read the entire article:  China provides 'source of strength to global economy'