02/12/2024

CEOs Start Echoing Consumers' Optimism on the Economy

Meanwhile, they remain highly concerned about the 2024 election

The Cassandra vibe reported by many U.S. bosses for more than a year appears to be fading as a new survey reflects an increasing optimism over their business and economic prospects. The Conference Board reports fewer CEOs are fretting about the risks of recession and are instead voicing more upbeat expectations for 2024. Indeed, rather than economic issues, the biggest worry to CEOs now are the uncertainties in November's U.S. presidential election--a source of anxiety shared with the rest of the country.

In the most recent update of its recurring polls of chief executives, the Conference Board found that 36 percent of respondents anticipate economic conditions improving in the next six months. Those increasingly positive expectations recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023 were nearly double the 19 percent level registered in the previous quarter. That improvement was fueled by dovetailing economic trends like diminishing inflation and slowing rates of job creation, both of which increase the likelihood of a much hoped-for soft economic landing later this year.

The continued strengthening of these positive indicators helped shrink the percentage of CEOs who'd previously expressed fears of a looming recession. The updated survey found only 27 percent of bosses expecting economic conditions to worsen over the next half year, a dramatic drop from the 47 percent who felt "hinky" about U.S. economic prospects in the third quarter.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Inc.