CEO Confidence Index: Global & Political Outlook

Last week’s release of the latest Vistage CEO Confidence Index — a survey of more than 1,600 small business owners in the U.S. — is still reverberating through the U.S. business community.

For starters, the Index showed an increase of 18 percent in confidence among surveyed CEOs in the last quarter of 2011. That’s the biggest quarterly gain since 2009, and it represents the highest confidence level since early 2011.

The positive findings have also been echoed by Chief Executive magazine, which found that, in 2012, “just under 69 percent of CEOs expect to see increased revenues, and 42 percent expect that they will increase capital expenditures. CEOs are investing in their businesses and are making acquisitions.”

Global Outlook

Looking at the big picture, American CEOs are confident not only about prospects at home, but also regarding overseas competition. According to the latest index, 49 percent of CEOs “believe that in three years, the U.S. will be the most improved economy in the world with China posting 17 percent and South America at 14 percent.”

However, international concerns still dampen the outlook a bit. “Persistent economic and political uncertainty remains a top concern, mentioned by nearly half of all CEOs, fueled by the debt crisis in Europe and the failure of Congress to address the national debt.”

Romney Seen as Likely to Emerge as GOP Nominee

Vistage CEOs felt confident that Mitt Romney would take the Republican nomination (49 percent), with Newt Gingrich registering a distant second (29 percent).

“None of the other candidates registered at higher than 2 percent,” the report states.

Over the last few days here at Executive Street, we’ve covered a variety of angles to last week’s Vistage CEO Confidence Index.

But we haven’t covered it all. The Index documents almost two dozen specific findings and trends, including CEOs’ anticipated hiring plans, political expectations, experiences acquiring credit, and lots more.

Don’t miss out on any of it: Head over to the interactive Vistage CEO Confidence Index Tool available here and browse the rest of the Index’s findings via a slick, downloadable graphic widget.

The Vistage CEO Confidence Index is a compilation of responses from 1,641 CEOs throughout the United States taken over ten days in mid-December. Vew the full report at PR Newswire.

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