Washington – America’s chief executives are feeling pretty good about business prospects, with most expecting sales to increase, although Wall Street investors have expressed anxiety recently about the economy’s direction.
A survey by the Business Roundtable, released Wednesday, also showed that many executives expected capital investment and hiring to remain at current levels or be boosted in the coming months.
These mostly positive projections came from a survey completed before last week’s nose dive in financial markets at home and abroad. The market meltdown partly reflected investor worries about the possibility of economic slowdown in two global powerhouses, the United States and China.
The Business Roundtable survey “shows that CEOs believe the economy is growing at a comfortable pace,” said the group’s chairman, Harold McGraw III, president and chief executive of the McGraw-Hill Cos.
“The projections for sales, capital spending and employment all point to steady growth with no significant acceleration or slowing over the next six months,” McGraw said.
The stock market sell-off – along with a recent pickup in gas prices and a plunge in orders for big-ticket manufactured goods – hasn’t changed this view, McGraw told reporters in a telephone conference call.
“We continue to see business following a steady-as-she-goes mentality toward the economy,” he said.
For all of this year, however, the Business Roundtable executives predict the economy will grow by 2.9 percent, which would be the slowest pace since 2003.
