Survey: CEOs still foresee negative conditions - Business First of Louisville:

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set of economic saidIvan Seidenberg, chairman of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditionds – while still negative – appear to have begu n to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs representf a combined workforce of nearly 10 millionj employees and more than $5 trilliomn in annual sales. When asked how they anticipated their sales to fluctuate in the nextsix months, 34 percentr said they will increase while 46 percent predicted a decrease. That is a sunnierd forecast over the first quarte routlook survey, when just 24 percent predicte an increase in sales. In terms of how theier U.S.
capital spending will change over that 12 percent foresee itgoing up, whilre 51 percent see it decreasing. Few (6 percent) expecft their U.S. employment to increasd in the next six while 49 percent anticipatr their employee base to contractin size. That shows an improvementg from the first quarteroutlook survey, when 71 percentr predicted a drop in In terms of the overall U.S. member CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percentg in 2009, down from the estimate of a 1.9 percent declinr in the first quarter of 2009. The outlook index -- whichy combines member CEO projectionsfor sales, capital spending and employmeny in the six months ahead -- expandecd to 18.
5 in the seconed quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first An index reading of 50 or lower is consistent with overalk economic contraction and a readinyg of 50 or higher is consistent with