The first quarter edition of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Manufacturing Barometer reported a slight uptick in economic optimism among U.S.-based industrial manufacturers with 16% of executives polled expressing optimism about the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, up 11 points from the previous quarter. More than half the respondents (55%) remain pessimistic about the U.S. economy, which is an improvement from the 70% who were pessimistic last quarter.
 
Anxieties over international prospects remain high amidst the global recession, as 98% of manufacturers marketing abroad agree that the global economy declined in Q1. International sales turned increasingly negative in the first quarter, with more than half (60%) of respondents reporting decreased international sales from …