Firms downgrade forecasts 
2019-12-13
The chief executives of America’s biggest companies have downgraded their forecasts for the US economy for a seventh straight quarter, partly due to uncertainty over US trade policy, according to a new survey released on Wednesday.
The Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook Index, a composite index of CEO plans for the next six months of sales, capital spending and employment, decreased 2.5 points to 76.7 in the fourth quarter of the year, which remains below the index's historical average of 82.7.
The 2.5-point decline, while modest, marks the seventh consecutive quarterly decline and indicates that CEOs plan to hire fewer people and invest less over the next six months, according to the Business Roundtable.
