Leo Haviland joins Jim Blasingame to report that the global economy is doing well, but is not robust, with certain elements that are holding it back, like trade negotiations with China, oil prices, debt and other factors.

Leo Haviland joins Jim Blasingame to report that while the global economy is not robust, there is no indication that a negative growth period is in the near future.

Tony Uphoff joins Jim Blasingame to reveal that several of the national sourcing trends to watch this year include steel, printed circuit boards, and plastic bottle and cardboard products.

Tony Uphoff joins Jim Blasingame to reveal how the global economy could expand for years if we can get mutually beneficial trade deals in place, especially in China, the E.U., and Canada and Mexico.

Greg Kozera joins Jim Blasingame to reveal why manufacturers are building plants nearer the energy source, which is one reason more U.S. companies are onshoring more jobs from other countries.

Chad Moutray joins Jim Blasingame to report on the current state of trade negotiations with China, North America and Europe, and progress so far for each one.

Anne Zimmerman joins Jim Blasingame to report on what small businesses are saying about whether the new tax law helped them or not, and the results are that while it did cut their taxes, it wasn’t much help, and not as much as major corporations got.

Bill Dunkelberg joins Jim Blasingame to report on the NFIB Index which shows small businesses are continuing to hire in the face of a limited prospect pool, and they’re paying their people more and investing in capital equipment.

Bill Dunkelberg joins Jim Blasingame to report on the NFIB Index of small business optimism, which is up, even though the 1st quarter saw lots of bad weather and a record length government shutdown.

Jim Blasingame reports on the news that Walmart has installed thousands of robots in their stores to do many different tasks, and what was the real reason it happened.