We note an uptick in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), for one, and companies generally have more cash to
increase their business investment.
Excluding the impact of currency, Segment Adjusted EBITDA declined 8.6 percentage points, primarily due to the decline in volume / mix,
increased business investments to support growth as well as higher input costs in local currency.
Although this policy does not appear to have had the desired effect of
increasing business investment, it did produce negative real interest rates on 10 - year Treasuries for all of 2012 and much of 2013.
But the speech ends by suggesting there is still a missing ingredient —
increased business investment — that would further support the adjustment and ongoing economic growth.
And
the increased business investment of 2017 seems to have been largely driven by higher oil prices, which revived the fracking trade after a pause.