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

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“This quarter’s results reflect a continuing weak set ofeconomifc conditions,” said Ivan Seidenberg, chairmanj of Business Roundtable and chairman and CEO of “Conditionz – while still negative – appea to have begun to stabilize.” The D.C.-based associationn of CEOs represent a combined workforce of nearl 10 million employees and more than $5 trillion in annuao sales. When asked how they anticipate their sales to fluctuate in the next six 34 percent said they will increase while 46 percent predictefa decrease. That is a sunnier forecas t over the first quarteroutlook survey, when just 24 percenft predicted an increase in sales.
In terms of how theit U.S. capital spending will change overthat time, 12 percentf foresee it going up, while 51 percent see it Few (6 percent) expect their U.S. employment to increasw in the next six while 49 percent anticipate theirf employee base to contractin size. That showsx an improvement from the first quarteroutlook survey, when 71 percentt predicted a drop in employment. In terms of the overallo U.S. economy, member CEOs estimate real GDP will dropby 2.1 percenty in 2009, down from the CEOs’ estimatwe of a 1.9 percent decline in the first quarte of 2009.
The outlook index -- which combine member CEO projectionsfor sales, capitalp spending and employment in the six months ahead -- expanded to 18.5 in the second quarter, up from negativ 5.0 in the first quarter. An index readiny of 50 or lowetr is consistent with overall economic contractionj and a reading of 50 or higher is consistenwith expansion.