Chief Executive magazine takes the temperature of US CEOs on a monthly basis, and has results for April. They show a marked improvement over the dank March results – but they still have a way to go to reach par. In fact, a long-term slide in confidence was reversed, reaching a topline value of 68.9 (par is 100). It rested at 41.6 in March.
“CEOs have started to gain confidence in the economic environment, which is evident from the significant recovery that the index has shown,” said JP Donlon, Editor-in-Chief of Chief Executive magazine. “The jump is an indication that the market has bottomed out and that a slow recovery may be close.”
All internal measurements also picked up steam. Current confidence rose from 54.9 to 66.9; future confidence soared from 32.7 to 70.2; the business condition index skyrocketed from 11.9 to 53.3; employment confidence jumped from 28.2 to 46.7; and investment confidence almost achieved par, improving from 77.8 to 99.4.
RBR/TVBR observation: You could say that the CEOs are whistling in the dark, but the group this mag generally polls hasn’t been, so maybe they are seeing some good signs from their special vantage point. But there’s still a ways to go get to a true showing of confidence.
