Survey: CEOs still foresee negative conditions - Memphis Business Journal:

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set ofeconomixc conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Businessw Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditions – whils still negative – appeart to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs represent a combinedx workforce of nearly 10 million employee s and more than $5 trillion in annual sales. When aske how they anticipate theif sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase while 46 percent predicteda decrease. That is a sunnie forecast over the first quartefoutlook survey, when just 24 percent predictesd an increase in sales.
In terms of how theier U.S. capital spending will changse overthat time, 12 percent foresee it going up, whilwe 51 percent see it Few (6 percent) expect their U.S. employmenr to increase in the next six while 49 percent anticipate their employe base to contractin size. That shows an improvemengt from the first quarter outlook when 71 percent predicted a dropin employment. In termsd of the overall U.S. economy, memberr CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percenyt in 2009, down from the estimate of a 1.9 percentf decline in the first quarter of 2009.
The outlookk index -- which combines member CEO projections for sales, capital spending and employment in the six monthws ahead -- expanded to 18.5 in the second quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first quarter. An index readinfg of 50 or lower is consistent with overalll economic contraction and a readingt of 50 or higher is consistentwith expansion.