The Illinois Equipment Distributors (IED) kicked off the new construction season with its 2022 Construction Equipment Forecast meeting March 24 at Venuti's Italian Restaurant in Addison, Ill. Charlie Dougherty, vice president and economist of Wells Fargo's Corporate and Investment Bank, was guest speaker.

Dougherty is based in Charlotte, N.C., and covers the United States' economy — focusing on commercial real estate, housing, construction and regional sectors. He produces reports and special commentary and has been featured in regional and national publications, including Bloomberg News, Yahoo Finance and The Washington Post, according to his bio.

"While the world economy faces many headwinds, including the Russia-Ukraine War, crude oil prices, rising interest rates and the Omicron [COVID-19] virus, Charlie's optimism remains steadfast," said Tom Stern, executive secretary of IED.

According to the 2022 Construction Industry Forecast report, The Optimism Quotient (OQ) is the benchmark for measuring contractor and equipment distributor sentiment on local non-residential construction activity. For 2022, the OQ is 112.

Dougherty's optimism stems from several factors, including:

• excess savings to drive consumer spending;
• rising labor costs to get workers back to work;
• the continued growth of the United States' housing market, even with rising interest rates;
• the rapidly expanding new warehouse and industrial development; and
• the Biden infrastructure framework.

According to Dougherty, the economy returned to its prior path trend at the end of 2021.

For more information, visit illinoisequipmentdistributors.com. CEG