SAN FRANCISCO — Americans are still spending money at casinos, amusement parks and concerts. Some are even shopping at Bloomingdales and looking at new homes.
Even as the stock market’s wild swings heighten fears of another recession, many business executives see bright spots. Worrisome signs abound too, especially for companies struggling to recover. But for a lot of corporate leaders, the general state of the economy has not changed much in the past three weeks of upheaval.
Executives addressed the turmoil this week during earnings conference calls and in interviews with The Associated Press. From their vantage point, the economy looks less troubled than major stock indicators like the Dow Jones industrial average, which has tumbled by 12 percent since July 21.
“Overall, it’s kind of business as usual,” said Michael Rapino, chief executive of concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment Inc. He expects all of the company’s shows to go on this fall after seeing North American attendance rise by 13 percent in the April-June period.
In some ways, the recent market upheaval has been easier for business leaders to endure because it’s not entirely surprising. The outlook in corporate America had been darkening even before the stock market’s harrowing plunges began to evoke memories of the recession’s nadir in late 2008.
A survey of 1,200 senior executives taken last month by the Corporate Executive Board produced the lowest level of confidence since 2009. The same poll found only 38 percent planned to expand payrolls in the next year, down from 58 percent six months ago. That doesn’t bode well for a U.S. economy that lost as many as 8.6 million jobs and has regained only 1.7 million since the recession officially ended two years ago. Unemployment remains above 9 percent.
