Survey: CEOs still foresee negative conditions - San Francisco Business Times:

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuingf weak set ofeconomic conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Busines s Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditions – while stillk negative – appear to have begun to The D.C.-based association of CEOs representy a combined workforce of nearlyh 10 million employees and more than $5 trillio in annual sales. When asked how they anticipater their sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase whiles 46 percent predicteda decrease. That is a sunnier forecas t over the first quarter outlook when just 24 percent predicted an increase in In terms of howthei U.S.
capital spending will change overthat time, 12 percenf foresee it going up, while 51 percenrt see it decreasing. Few (6 percent) expect thei r U.S. employment to increase in the next six while 49 percent anticipate their employee base to contracgtin size. That shows an improvement from the first quartedroutlook survey, when 71 percent predictecd a drop in In terms of the overall U.S. economy, member CEOs estimatre real GDP will dropby 2.1 percent in 2009, down from the estimate of a 1.9 percent declin in the first quarter of 2009. The outloo k index -- which combines member CEO projections for capital spending and employment in the six monthaahead -- expanded to 18.
5 in the second up from negative 5.0 in the first An index reading of 50 or lower is consistentg with overall economic contraction and a reading of 50 or highet is consistent with