High inflation, rising interest rates and talk of recession has got American business leaders feeling down: A new survey shows just 19% of senior executives at mid-sized firms are optimistic about the economy in the year ahead.
The level of confidence is the lowest in the 12-year history of the JP Morgan Chase survey, the firm said. It’s even worse than early in the pandemic.By many measures, the U.S. economy has appeared to slow in 2022.
Higher rates, combined with ongoing supply and labor shortages, are likely to slow the economy further. That could reduce hiring, induce more layoffs, cause consumers to cut spending and spur businesses to slash investment. Yet even as they worry about the broader U.S. economy, some 71% of the 1,500 business leaders surveyed said they are optimistic about how their companies will perform. Nearly three-quarters expect higher sales in the year ahead and 57% predict stronger profits, too.If executives are right about their own companies’ performances, though, it would suggest the economy could prove to be resilient and that a recession isn’t inevitable.
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