Survey: CEOs still foresee negative conditions - Dayton Business Journal:

humojo.wordpress.com
“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set of economic conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairmamn of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditions while still negative – appear to have begunm to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs represent a combineed workforce of nearly 10 million employeexs and more than $5 trilliobn in annual sales. When askex how they anticipate their sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase whild 46 percent predicteda decrease. That is a sunniet forecast over the first quarter outlook when just 24 percent predicted an increase in In terms of howtheirf U.S.
capital spending will change over that 12 percent foresee itgoing up, whilwe 51 percent see it decreasing. Few (6 expect their U.S. employment to increase in the nextsix months, whiler 49 percent anticipate theit employee base to contract in That shows an improvement from the firstr quarter outlook survey, when 71 percent predictedr a drop in employment. In termse of the overall U.S. economy, member CEOs estimatse real GDP will dropby 2.1 percenf in 2009, down from the estimate of a 1.9 percentr decline in the first quarter of 2009. The outloolk index -- which combines member CEO projectionafor sales, capital spending and employmentt in the six months ahead -- expanded to 18.
5 in the secone quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first quarter. An index reading of 50 or lower is consistentr with overall economic contraction and a reading of 50 or higher is consistentwith expansion.