Healthcare industry will be strong out of the recession

This is according to the head of IHS Global Insight's World Industry Service, Mark Killion.

Healthcare and consumer staples industry outlook

The main reason for why these two industries are poised to recover faster than others is that both sectors have demand that typically remains steadier through an economic downturn. Another reason that they will bounce back strong is because the companies in these sectors have strong balance sheets and have not being affected by the credit crunch.

Consumer discretionary sluggish

An industry that will be quite sluggish is the consumer discretionary industry. Killion said that since household spending has been hit by weak employment, IHS does not see this sector bouncing back anytime soon. "Even a slowly recovering economy will not bring relief to industries in a long-term structural decline, such as textiles, apparel and tobacco, and in the automotive sector, the incentive programs that boosted sales have now expired."

For the Eurozone economies also the healthcare and consumer staples industries will lead the charge, while the materials sector will be a laggard.

For the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – information technology and telecoms are in the best position to recover, while the energy sector will be the least well positioned, Killion said.

While telecoms and technology are more economically sensitive, they have fared relatively well in the current recession, especially in China and the rest of Asia.

Software has performed well globally, with notable strength in the U.S. and India where many IT firms have very strong balance sheets.

Although the automobile sector is struggling in the U.S., China and India, by contrast, are experiencing explosive year-on-year growth rates in auto sales, he said.