This chart looks at the growth of capex (Capital Expenditure, aka business investment) by S&P500 companies (excludes commodity capex which can have much wider gyrations and is more sensitive to commodity prices rather than the business cycle).

The key point is that S&P500 companies are starting to invest in their business again. This makes a lot of sense from a cycles perspective as the business cycle is clearly maturing e.g. various measures of capacity utilization are the tightest in years, and the tax cuts provide direct and indirect incentives to invest in productive capacity.

As I mentioned previously, along with potential government investment in infrastructure this could drive a new US investment boom.

(Click on image to enlarge)