In today's edition of our Electrical Marketing newsletter, available now to subscribers, we've got a number of different perspectives on the current condition of the economics underlying the electrical industry. There's a preview of Electrical Wholesaling's 2012 Market Planning Guide survey results, some analysis from Herm Isenstein of DISC Corp., some statistics from the Commerce Department, the monthly confidence index from NEMA and a brief rundown of the metro areas in the U.S. with the most sales potential based on the number of electrical contractors.

Overall, probably the best we can offer is some cautious optimism, though we'd love to join Eaton's Sandy Cutler, who in his earnings meeting with analysts last week saw "the beginning of some good news" in his company's U.S. electrical segment's quarterly results.