Business confidence nudges upward to start 2016

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By State House News Service

Optimism about the state economy -- bolstered by news that Boston has lured GE away from Connecticut -- helped get 2016 off to a positive start for business confidence despite uneasy financial markets, according to the Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

The AIM business confidence index rose 0.5 points to 55.8 in January, the business group said, led by a 1.8-point surge in the index measuring employer attitudes specifically about Massachusetts.

"The fact that employer confidence remained solid during a month in which the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was at one point off 9 percent and oil dropped below $27 a barrel points to the fundamental, underlying strength of the Massachusetts economy," Raymond Torto, chair of AIM's Board of Economic Advisors said in a statement.

The AIM index has been issued monthly since July 1991. It is presented on a 100-point scale, with a score of 50 being neutral. The all-time high of 68.5 was recorded in both 1997 and 1998, the group said. The index score of 55.8 for January 2.3 points lower than the business confidence index score last January, AIM said.

A coup that has been heralded by Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh, the successful attraction of GE to Boston's Seaport District registered on AIM's index as evidence of a positive economic climate in Massachusetts.

"GE's decision to leave Connecticut underscored the fact that taxes and the business environment matter a great deal to companies in their location decisions," AIM President and CEO Richard Lord, who once worked for GE, said in a statement. "We look forward to working with the Legislature to ensure that employers all over the commonwealth are able to do what they do best during 2016 -- invest, grow and create opportunity for the people of Massachusetts."