There has been a 7% increase in the Health Watch Index for the industrial automation and process control industry over the past month, but what is leading to that increase? After much investigation it appears that the increase is directly related to the increase (15%) in crude oil prices that occurred between Feb 25 and March 7. It is our belief that the increase crude oil prices had a halo effect on the industry, bringing with it the hope that oil prices will continue to increase, allowing many of the mining and other oil related endeavors that are currently shut down to reopen and/or expand, thus improving the revenue stream for the products our industry produces. It is our hope, but not our belief, that this will indeed be the case. The industry wide increase and the issues surrounding it are discussed in the March issue of the INSIDER magazine.