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

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazines Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwidre about their expectations for the Their answers paint a gloomy picturer for the rest of the * CFOs in the U.S. and Europe expecteed employment to shrinkby 5.5 with the unemployment rate in the U.S. seen risinyg to perhaps 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 these but even the most optimistic governmenty forecasts would reduce the losses by only 2 said Campbell Harvey, founding director of the surve and international business professor at Duke’s Fuqua Schooo of Business.
“We’re facing the possibility of anothere 4 millionlost * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capitalp spending plunging by more than 10 In Asia, CFOs anticipatee a 3 percent decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companied covered by the survey reported havinbg trouble finding credit or acquiring credit at a reasonable rate. Among those firms encounterinhcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credit markets have gottejn worse this year, while 23 percent say conditions have * Weak consumer demand and the credit markets rankedd as the top two externalp concerns among U.S. chief financial officers, with the federal government’sa policies coming in third.
Amonbg internal concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleep over their inabilit to plan due toeconomic uncertainty, managing their companies’ capitap and liquidity, and maintaining employee morale. Despitde all the negative indicators, a majoritg of the CFOs in the Unitef States and Asia reported being more optimistic this quarterr than they were theprevious quarter. That was not the case in where only 30 percent of the CFOs said they were more compared to the 31 percent who said they wereless “Our survey carries an important Don’t put too much weight on the ‘soft’ data like consume r confidence.
Recovery requires sustained confidence, and such confidence is forgedx by strongereconomic fundamentals,” Harvey “The economic fundamentals –- employment, capitao spending, the cost of credit – are stilo fundamentally troubling.” To see the completre survey results, go to the official Web site, .