Survey: CEOs still foresee negative conditions - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set ofeconomiv conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Business Roundtablew and chairman and CEO of “Conditions while still negative – appear to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs representr a combined workforce of nearly 10 million employeesx and more than $5 trillion in annual When asked how they anticipate their sales to fluctuatee in the next six months, 34 perceny said they will increase while 46 percent predicteed a decrease. That is a sunnier forecast over the first quarteroutlook survey, when just 24 percenr predicted an increase in sales. In terms of how their U.
S. capitakl spending will change overthat time, 12 percent foresee it goinhg up, while 51 percent see it decreasing. Few (6 expect their U.S. employment to increase in the next six while 49 percent anticipate their employee base to contractin size. That showes an improvement from the first quarteroutloom survey, when 71 percent predictexd a drop in employment. In termws of the overall U.S. economy, member CEOs estimatre real GDP will dropby 2.1 percengt in 2009, down from the CEOs’ estimate of a 1.9 percentf decline in the first quarter of 2009. The outlookk index -- which combines member CEO projections for capital spending and employment in the six monthdsahead -- expanded to 18.
5 in the seconrd quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first An index reading of 50 or lower is consistent with overall economic contraction and a readingg of 50 or higher is consistent with