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

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazinse Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwid e about their expectations for the economy. Theifr answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest ofthe year. * CFOs in the U.S. and Europwe expected employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemployment rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhaps as high as 12 percentt in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expecte d to recedeby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, government programse will offset some ofthese losses, but even the most optimisti c government forecasts would reduce the losses by only 2 million,” said Campbello Harvey, founding director of the survey and international businesss professor at Duke’s Fuquqa School of Business. “We’re facing the possibilityh of another 4 millionlost jobs.” * U.S. and Europeahn CFOs foresee capital spending plunging by more than10 percent. In CFOs anticipate a 3 percent decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companieds covered by the survey reported having trouble findingv credit or acquiring credigt at areasonable rate.
Among thoswe firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credi t markets have gotten worse this year, while 23 percent say condition s have improved. * Weak consumer demand and the credi t markets ranked as the top two external concernssamong U.S. chief financial with the federal government’s policies coming in third. Among internal concerns, CFOs are losingv the most sleep over their inability to plan due toeconomicv uncertainty, managing their companies’ capital and liquidity, and maintaining employee Despite all the negative indicators, a majoritu of the CFOs in the United States and Asia reporteds being more optimistic this quarter than they were the previoua quarter.
That was not the case in Europe, wherd only 30 percent of the CFOs said they weremore optimistic, comparedd to the 31 percent who said they were less “Our survey carries an important message: Don’ put too much weight on the data like consumer confidence. Recovery requires sustained confidence, and such confidence is forged by strongerreconomic fundamentals,” Harvey “The economic fundamentals –- capital spending, the cost of credit – are still fundamentally troubling.” To see the complete surveyt results, go to the official Web site, .