The confidence of US finance chiefs in their companies’ near-term fortunes surged this past quarter, even as many of them predict that a full-scale economic recovery may not begin until 2010, a survey has shown.
US companies were expected to show an 11 per cent increase in net earnings in the next 12 months, according to a poll of 262 chief financial officers conducted by Financial Executives International, a corporate finance lobby group, and Baruch College.
Those surveyed also predicted that revenue would increase 5.8 per cent in the next year. For the first time in more than a year, CFOs predicted capital budgets would rise in the next 12 months, as would hiring.(…)
Overall capital spending is expected to rise by 1.1 per cent. Healthcare costs are forecast to climb by 8.2 per cent, while technology spending may pick up by 7.2 per cent.
The finance chiefs also predicted a 1.7 per cent increase in recruitment.
When asked to rate their optimism for the US economy between zero and 100, the CFOs responded with an average score of 54.2.(…)
