The CEO Conference Survey is out and it reveals what has company leaders most worried heading into 2020.
The following are the major concerns that CEOs have about the current year.
- The trade war between the U.S. and China doesn’t have CEOs hopeful.
- Of the CEOs in the survey, 64% are expecting the trade war to impact their businesses.
- The majority of these respondents are expecting a negative effect on sales and profits from the trade war.
- A third of the respondents say that they intend to pass on the costs of the trade wars to their customers.
- CEOs in the U.S. are also negative on the subject of short-term growth prospects in the US.
- There are also concerns about the global economy, including how it will affect companies in the U.S.
- Many CEOs also have plans to lessen investments as they prepare for a tough economy.
- It’s also worth noting that overall CEO confidence is down to 34 in the third quarter of 2019.
- That’s a drop from the previous rating of 43.
- This is the lowest reading for the CEO Conference Survey since the first quarter of 2009.
- At that time, CEO confidence was down to 30.
- To be clear, it takes a score of 50 or higher in the CEO Conference Survey to be considered positive.
“Tariffs and trade issues, coupled with expectations of moderating global growth, are causing a heightened degree of uncertainty,” Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board,
says this about the results. “As a result, more CEOs than last year say they have curtailed investment. In a separate poll of CEOs and CFOs (conducted in September), we found that a large majority believe the recent trade disputes will have a lasting impact on their business.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
