January 21, 2002 - WhatTheyThink.com and CAP Ventures have released their monthly Printer Confidence Index. The data is compiled each month from printers throughout the United States. The goal of the index is to provide real-time analysis of print demand and capital spending expectations. There continues to be a negative sentiment among print providers about the conditions in their market for print. In January 2002, 52.9% of printers indicated that demand for print in their local market is either starting to slip or continues to decline. This percentage is an improvement from the 57.8% of respondents that indicated their local market is contracting in December. While only 15.2% of printers indicated that their local market is growing, this figure is an improvement from the 11.9% of respondents that indicated a growing market in December. The remaining printers indicated that there is a balance between supply and demand in their local market. Nearly 70% of printers indicated they did not purchase any printing equipment or related hardware in December. However, 18% purchased prepress equipment (workstations, scanners, imagesetters, proofers and other devices). Just over 8% or printers purchased bindery and finishing equipment in December. Between 2% and 4.6% of printers indicated they purchased other capital equipment such as presses, high-speed digital printers, color copiers or print management software. The near term and mid-term outlook for capital equipment purchases continues to be modest. Premium Access Members at WhatTheyThink.com can view charts, graphs and detailed analysis - including: - Confidence levels by printer size. - Print demand data versus the previous month. - Side-by-side demand expectations for the next 6 months. - Equipment spending on software, digital, prepress, press & postpress - Printers project their capital spending this month and the coming 6 months.