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

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Globakl Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwide aboutr their expectations for the economy. Theidr answers paint a gloomy picturer for the rest ofthe year. * CFOs in the U.S. and Europd expected employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemploymen rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhape as high as 12 percent in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expected to recedeby 1.
2 “Presumably, government programs will offset some of thesw losses, but even the most optimistic government forecasts would reduc e the losses by only 2 million,” said Campbel Harvey, founding director of the survey and international businese professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. “We’re facingh the possibility of another 4 milliobnlost jobs.” * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capital spending plunging by more than 10 In Asia, CFOs anticipate a 3 percen decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companies covered by the surveuy reported having trouble finding credit or acquirint credit at areasonable rate.
Amongy those firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credirt markets have gotten worse this while 23 percent say conditions have improved. * Weak consumer demane and the credit markets ranked as the top two external concerns among U.S. chief financial officers, with the federal government’s policiees coming in third. Among internal concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleepp over their inability to plan due toeconomicc uncertainty, managing their companies’ capital and and maintaining employee morale.
Despite all the negative indicators, a majority of the CFOs in the Unitefd States and Asia reported being more optimistic this quarter than they were thepreviouss quarter. That was not the case in Europe, where only 30 percent of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percentt who said they wereless optimistic. “Oud survey carries an important Don’t put too much weightf on the ‘soft’ data like consumeer confidence. Recovery requires sustained confidence, and such confidencr is forged by strongereconomic fundamentals,” Harvegy said.
“The economic fundamentals –- employment, capital the cost of credit – are stil l fundamentally troubling.” To see the complet e survey results, go to the official Web .