Duke, CFO study: CFOs foresee more job cuts, credit woes - Jacksonville Business Journal:

grearqakususi1426.blogspot.com
The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazin e Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwide aboutg their expectations for the economy. Theirr answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest ofthe year. * CFOs in the U.S. and Europr expected employment to shrinkiby 5.5 percent, with the unemploymengt rate in the U.S. seen risinfg to perhaps as high as 12 percenr in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expected to recedesby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, governmen programs will offset some of these but even the most optimisticf government forecasts would reduce the lossex by only2 million,” said Campbell Harvey, foundin director of the survey and international business professor at Duke’ss Fuqua School of “We’re facing the possibility of another 4 millionm lost jobs.” * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capitak spending plunging by more than10 percent. In CFOs anticipate a 3 percent decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companie covered by the survey reported having trouble findingf credit or acquiring credit at areasonabld rate.
Among those firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credit marketse have gotten worse this year, while 23 percen say conditions have improved. * Weak consumer demand and the credit markets ranked as the top two external concernsamong U.S. chief financiall officers, with the federapl government’s policies coming in Among internal concerns, CFOs are losingt the most sleep over their inabilitg to plan due toeconomic uncertainty, managingy their companies’ capital and liquidity, and maintainingf employee morale.
Despite all the negative indicators, a majorityg of the CFOs in the United States and Asia reportexd being more optimistic this quarter than they were thepreviousw quarter. That was not the case in Europe, wherw only 30 percent of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percent who said they wereless “Our survey carries an importanft message: Don’t put too much weight on the data like consumer confidence. Recovery requires sustained and such confidence is forged by strongereconomic fundamentals,” Harveyy said. “The economic fundamentals –- employment, capital spending, the cost of credit – are stillo fundamentally troubling.
” To see the complete survey go to the officialWeb site, .