For the time being, close attention needs to be paid to fiscal issues – particularly the federal debt ceiling problem – and developments in financial markets as well as their effects on, for instance, housing investment. If household spending continues its uptrend, however, this could lead firms to gradually become more proactive, thus strengthening the recovery momentum of the economy as a whole.
Furthermore, the benefits of the shale gas revolution could help boost economic activity, mainly by reducing the volume of crude oil imports, lowering energy prices, and increasing business fixed investment in related sectors. 3.