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

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set ofeconomi conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairman of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditionsw – while still negative – appear to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-based association of CEOs representg a combined workforce of nearly 10 million employeeas and more than $5 trillionj in annual sales. When asked how they anticipate their sales to fluctuate in the nextsix months, 34 percengt said they will increase whilw 46 percent predicted a decrease. That is a sunnier forecasf over the first quarteroutlook survey, when just 24 percen predicted an increase in sales.
In terms of how theie U.S. capital spending will change overthat time, 12 percentr foresee it going up, while 51 percent see it Few (6 percent) expect their U.S. employmeny to increase in the next six while 49 percent anticipate their employee base to contract in That shows an improvement from the firsrt quarteroutlook survey, when 71 percent predictefd a drop in employment. In terms of the overalol U.S. economy, member CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percenrt in 2009, down from the estimate of a 1.9 percent declinse in the first quarted of 2009.
The outlook index -- whicyh combines member CEO projectionsfor sales, capital spendinvg and employment in the six months ahead -- expandeed to 18.5 in the seconrd quarter, up from negative 5.0 in the first An index reading of 50 or lower is consistenty with overall economic contractionn and a reading of 50 or highefr is consistent with expansion.