CEO confidence is waning

"The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had improved to 53 in the first quarter of 2007, fell to 45 in the second quarter. A reading of less than 50 points reflects more negative than positive responses.
The survey includes about 100 business leaders in a wide range of industries across the nation.

Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said, 'Several quarters of sluggish economic growth have taken a toll on CEOs' confidence, erasing two quarters of improvement. Looking ahead, CEOs do not expect a significant turnaround in conditions and profit expectations. Only a quarter expect profits to increase vs. three-quarters last year, reflecting their pessimistic outlook.'

CEOs' assessment of current economic conditions was little changed from earlier this year, with 23 percent of CEOs compared with 24 percent last quarter claiming the current economic environment is better. In assessing their own industries, however, business leaders were considerably less optimistic. Approximately 23 percent claim conditions are better, down from about 37 percent in the first quarter.

CEOs are less optimistic about the short-term outlook than last quarter. Now, just 17 percent of business leaders expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, down from 27 percent last quarter. Expectations for their own in"