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

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set of economic saidIvan Seidenberg, chairman of Business Roundtabl and chairman and CEO of “Conditionxs – while still negative – appeaf to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-basedd association of CEOs represent a combined workforcs of nearly 10 million employees and more than $5 trillio n in annual sales. When asked how they anticipate their salesz to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase while 46 percent predicteda decrease. That is a sunniefr forecast over the first quarter outlook when just 24 percent predicteds an increasein sales. In terms of how their U.S.
capitall spending will change overthat time, 12 percent foresee it going up, while 51 percent see it Few (6 percent) expect theire U.S. employment to increase in the nextsix months, while 49 percent anticipate theit employee base to contract in That shows an improvement from the firs quarter outlook survey, when 71 percent predicted a drop in In terms of the overall U.S. economy, memberd CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percent in down from the CEOs’ estimate of a 1.9 percent declined in the first quarter of 2009. The outlook index -- whichb combines member CEO projectionsfor sales, capitakl spending and employment in the six monthsx ahead -- expanded to 18.
5 in the seconde quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first An index reading of 50 or lower is consisteny with overall economic contraction and a reading of 50 or higher is consistent with expansion.