Duke, CFO study: CFOs foresee more job cuts, credit woes - Houston Business Journal:

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwide about their expectations for the Their answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest of the * CFOs in the U.S. and Europed expected employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemploymenf rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhaps as high as 12 percentf in the next12 months. Employment in Asia is expected to receddeby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, government programs will offsetr some ofthese losses, but even the most optimisticx government forecasts would reduce the losses by only 2 said Campbell Harvey, founding director of the surveyy and international business professor at Duke’s Fuqua Schoolo of Business. “We’re facing the possibilitty of another 4 millionlost jobs.” * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capital spending plunging by more than 10 In Asia, CFOs anticipate a 3 percent decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companiese covered by the survey reported having troublwe finding credit or acquiring credit at areasonable rate.
Among those firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percenty say the credit markets have gotte worse this year, while 23 percent say conditions have * Weak consumer demand and the credit marketds ranked as the top two external concernw among U.S. chief financial officers, with the federalp government’s policies coming in Among internal concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleep over theirt inability to plan due toeconomidc uncertainty, managing their companies’ capitao and liquidity, and maintaining employee morale.
Despitwe all the negative indicators, a majority of the CFOs in the Unitex States and Asia reportee being more optimistic this quarter than they were the previous That was not the casein Europe, whers only 30 percent of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percent who said they were less “Our survey carries an important message: Don’y put too much weighg on the ‘soft’ data like consumer confidence. Recover y requires sustained confidence, and such confidence is forged by strongefeconomic fundamentals,” Harvey said. “The economi fundamentals –- employment, capital spending, the cost of credit – are stilll fundamentally troubling.
” To see the complete surveh results, go to the official Web site, .