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September 18, 2019 at 05:36 PM
The Federal Reserve’s decision Wednesday to cut the benchmark rate by a quarter point most likely won’t do much to sway the dour forecasts by the Business Roundtable, whose members’ Q3 2019 outlook saw decreases in three key areas: hiring, capital investment and sales, and projected lower growth of 2.3% for the year, down from the previous quarter’s 2.6%.
The Business Roundtable is a conservative business group made up of CEOs that have overall more than 15 million employees and $7.5 trillion in revenue. The survey of the business organization’s membership, which 138 CEOs completed, was conducted between Aug. 23 and Sept. 9, 2019.
The survey was a composite of CEO plans for capital spending, hiring and expectations for sales over the next six months. In a statement, the BR said that “CEO plans waned likely due in part to growing geopolitical uncertainty, including U.S. trade policy and foreign retaliation, and slowing global economic growth.”
Overall, the CEO Economic Outlook Index decreased 10.3 points from last quarter to a value of 79.2, according to the BR. The index’s historical average is 82.7. Although this may be a worrisome sign of “some moderation in the pace of economic growth going forward, the Index remains within growth territory,” the report stated.
