Summit Notebook

Caterpillar’s Chief Executive Jim Owens was in a lot better mood than many of his colleagues have been this week.

While most of the guests at this year’s Reuters Manufacturing Summit have been a little down in the mouth about the state of the U.S. economy, Owens was in pretty good spirits when he spoke at the summit on Tuesday.

Much of Caterpillar’s business growth is now happening overseas, as demand for the big machinery it makes has skyrocketed. Owens discussed not just the usual suspects for international growth — India and China — but also said some of the emerging markets CAT sells into are also going great guns.

Owens was one of the featured guests at this year’s summit, which continues through Thursday in Chicago. The next summit comesduring the week of March 10 and is the Reuters Mining and Steel Summit, held in New York, London and Sydney, Australia.