The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence declined to 50 in the third quarter, the business membership and research association announced today. In the second quarter, CEO confidence was at 62, which was consistent with the readings in the first quarter of this year. A measure above 50 shows that CEOs responded more positively than negatively when asked how confident they felt about the current state of their business, their industry and the economy as a whole.
Less than one-third of CEOs said that they believed conditions now are better than they were six months ago. Last quarter, two-thirds of CEOs thought conditions had improved.
“CEO confidence has cooled considerably in the second half of 2010, as has the U.S. economy. And, expectations are that this slow pace of economic growth will continue into early 2011,” said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.
CEOs’ concerns about the slow pace of economic growth reflected in their expectations on short-term changes. Last quarter, 48 percent of CEOs believed economic conditions would improve in the next six months, but this quarter that percentage had decreased to 22.