The One Big Thing Missing From The Economy May Have Finally Arrived

Following the financial crisis, U.S. companies cut back on expenditures.

Yet even as the economy recovered however they continued to sit on piles of cash.

For some time it's been argued that once companies began unleashing capital spending, the U.S. economy would finally shift out of its modest-to-moderate gear.

That moment may be imminent.

A new report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC) shows that 36% of private companies expect to make major new investments over the next twelve months - the highest reading in two years.

This makes sense considering 59% of private company CEOs are optimistic about the U.S. economic outlook over the next 12 months.

Executives plan to put 8.4% of their sales into capital projects now, compared with 6.4% a year ago. And those saying they would plan to put their money into geographic expansion improved 3% from last year.

The PwC tracked 205 U.S. businesses.