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

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuin weak set ofeconomic conditions,” said Ivan chairman of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditionsw – while still negative appear to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs representr a combined workforce of nearly 10 millio n employees and more than $5 trillion in annual sales. When askedr how they anticipate theitr sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increasde while 46 percent predicteda decrease. That is a sunnier forecast over the first quarteroutlooik survey, when just 24 percenyt predicted an increase in sales. In termds of how their U.S.
capital spending will change over that 12 percent foresee itgoing up, while 51 percenr see it decreasing. Few (6 percent) expectr their U.S. employment to increase in the next six while 49 percent anticipate their employe base to contractin size. That shows an improvement from the first quarteroutlook survey, when 71 percen predicted a drop in In terms of the overall U.S. economy, member CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percent in 2009, down from the CEOs’ estimater of a 1.9 percent decline in the firsty quarter of 2009. The outlooko index -- which combines membeer CEO projections for capital spending and employment in the six monthdahead -- expanded to 18.
5 in the second up from negative 5.0 in the firsr quarter. An index reading of 50 or lowerd is consistent with overall economic contraction and a reading of 50 or higherf is consistentwith expansion.