The global business environment has proved remarkably resilient in recent months, despite heightened political and geopolitical uncertainty following Donald Trump's election as U.S. President, the U.K. referendum vote to leave the EU and the question of whether eurozone countries will experience similar political shocks.
 

The market calm may also reflect the absence of details on many of the new U.S. administration's policies, and the outcome of the U.K.'s negotiated an exit from the EU. However, the calm also reflects favourable fundamental economic developments globally, including the continued stabilization of energy and other commodity prices, China's path to slower growth, and continued quantitative easing by the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank.
 

In this uncertain environment, it is a good time to present S&P Global Ratings' Industry Top Trend (ITT) 2017 reports. These cover 17 major nonfinancial corporate sectors. Each report details our industry forecasts and key assumptions, and how they feed into our rating outlooks. In addition, the reports discuss the three most material risks or opportunities facing each industry.