CEO confidence drops sharply on worries about inflation and recession

The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence™ in collaboration with The Business Council declined sharply in Q2 2022. The measure dropped to levels not seen since the start of COVID-19, with many CEOs concerned about inflation and a recession.

Nearly 60% of CEOs surveyed expect that inflation will come down over the next few years, but that the U.S. will have a very short, mild recession which the Fed offsets ("reverse soft landing"), while 11% foresee a challenging recession. Twenty percent said inflation will stay elevated over the next few years, and U.S. growth will slow significantly (stagflation).

Furthermore, 60% of CEOs expected the short-term economic outlook to worsen, up from just 23% in Q1 2022. However, over the coming year 63% said they expect to expand their workforce and 38% said they expect to increase their capital budgets.

For more information on our just-released CEO Confidence survey, please visit our website.