“CEO confidence remains quite negative, and continues to hover at levels associated with recession. While these results do not reflect the full impact of the financial crisis that began in mid-September, there is little doubt that the pessimism expressed before these events will worsen in the near-term," said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

CEOs’ assessment of current economic conditions remained extremely pessimistic, with just 6 percent claiming conditions had improved, down from 7 percent last quarter. In assessing their own industries, business leaders were equally as pessimistic. Only 7 percent claim conditions are better, down from 9 percent in the second quarter.          
Looking ahead six months, the outlook remains quite gloomy. Only about 20 percent of business leaders expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, down from approximately 24 percent last quarter. Expectations for their own industries were also pessimistic. Only 17 percent of CEOs anticipate an improvement in the months ahead, down from 20 percent last quarter.

Capital Spending Plans Down Substantially from Last Year

About 17 percent of chief executives report increases in their companies’ capital spending plans since January, while 38 percent have scaled plans back (based on a supplementary question asked each year in the third quarter). This is a significant change from the 2007 survey, when 24 percent had increased their capital spending plans and just 13 percent had made cuts. A decline in sales volume was the most cited reason for a decrease in spending plans.