Please forgive me for laughing at the idea that CEOs could
possibly know when the economy has hit bottom or far less that
they would have any idea as to an investment market bottom.
To counter the CEO index, perhaps you should instigate a CFO
index. CEOs train themselves to paint the rosy picture and CFOs
cannot but help paint a pessimistic picture. Or better yet,
encourage someone in creation of a personal stress index for
both CEOs and CFOs. When the CEO level for stress is highest
follows those fantastic forward projections to their bankers (now
they have to deliver) and when stress levels for CFOs decline
we would all know that recovery has actually begun, even
though no word of it has crossed the CFO lips.
I’ve been writing about the Consumer Confidence Index (from the Conference Board) for many, many years. I didn’t even KNOW there was a CEO Confidence Index. But there is, and apparently it is on the rise.
Chief Executive magazine, which produces the monthly index, reports that the index rose 9 percent to 75.7 points. Since the index reached a low in February 2009, it has recovered by 48 percent. The magazine says the increase was in large part due to a dramatically improved confidence level with respect to the Business Conditions Index, which jumped more than 22 percent to 68 points. Since March 2009, this index has bounced up 83 percent.
It won’t surprise you to hear that confidence in future conditions continues to be higher than confidence in current conditions. I’m personally keeping my eye out for the next batch of unemployment data, which is due out a bit later this morning. Even though first-time claims are abating, many of the people who last their jobs months ago still haven’t landed new ones. I can think of at least two individuals in my immediate acquaintance who fit that description (neither of whom are journalists, which is a WHOLE different story. Or is it?).
Here’s a full article on the index.
In any event, as we enter June and the summer, this is the traditional time when companies reset their expectations for the rest of the year. I fully expect to hear a lot of what I’ve been hearing for months now: that managers are getting smarter about focusing as much as improving technology utilitization through strategies such as virtualization and storage consolidation as they once spent obsessing over employee productivity. Smart managers realize there really should be no separation in how you consider both.
