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

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set ofeconomicv conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Business Roundtable and chairmanm and CEO of “Conditions – while still negative – appear to have begubn to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs represent a combiner workforce of nearly 10 million employees and more than $5 trillioj in annual sales. When asked how they anticipatde their sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase while 46 percengt predicteda decrease. That is a sunnier forecasr over the first quarteroutlook survey, when just 24 percentg predicted an increase in sales.
In terms of how their U.S. capitall spending will change overthat time, 12 percent foresee it goinf 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 shows an improvement from the firsf quarteroutlook survey, when 71 percen predicted a drop in employment. In terms of the overalpl U.S. economy, member CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percentg in 2009, down from the CEOs’ estimater of a 1.9 percent decline in the firsrt quarter of 2009.
The outlook index -- which combineas member CEO projections for capital spending and employment in the six monthsaheaf -- expanded to 18.5 in the second quarter, up from negativer 5.0 in the first quarter. An indexx reading of 50 or lowefr is consistent with overal economic contraction and a reading of 50 or highed is consistentwith expansion.