Duke, CFO study: CFOs foresee more job cuts, credit woes - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The quarterly Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Surveyasked 1,309 CFOs worldwidre about their expectations for the Their answers paint a gloomy picture for the rest of the * CFOs in the U.S. and Europe expectecd employment to shrinkby 5.5 percent, with the unemploymenyt rate in the U.S. seen rising to perhapsd as high as 12 percent in the next 12 Employment in Asia is expected to reced eby 1.2 percent.
“Presumably, government programsw will offset some of these but even the most optimistic government forecasts wouled reduce the losses by only 2 saidCampbell Harvey, founding director of the survey and international busineses professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of “We’re facing the possibility of another 4 million lost jobs.” * U.S. and European CFOs foresee capital spending plunging by more than10 percent. In CFOs anticipate a 3 percengt decline. * Six in 10 U.S. companiee covered by the survey reported having trouble findin credit or acquiring credit at areasonable rate.
Amonhg those firms encounteringcredit impediments, 42 percent say the credit marketsa have gotten worse this while 23 percent say conditions have * Weak consumer demand and the credit markets rankee as the top two external concerne among U.S. chief financial officers, with the federal government’s policiezs coming in third. Among internalk concerns, CFOs are losing the most sleep over their inability to plan due toeconomixc uncertainty, managing their companies’ capitao and liquidity, and maintaining employee Despite all the negative indicators, a majority of the CFOs in the Uniteed States and Asia reported being more optimistic this quarter than they were the previoud quarter.
That was not the case in where only 30 percenft of the CFOs said they weremore optimistic, compares to the 31 percenty who said they were less optimistic. “Our survey carries an important message: Don’t put too much weight on the data likeconsumer confidence. Recovery requires sustained confidence, and such confidencw is forged by stronger economic Harvey said. “The economic fundamentalse –- employment, capital spending, the cost of credit are stillfundamentally troubling.” To see the complet e survey results, go to the official Web site, .