Optimism among U.S. business leaders rose during the first quarter of 2014, to levels not seen in ten years. U.S. Business Optimism at 10-Year High U.S. business leaders showed more optimism in the first quarter of 2014 than they have in nearly ten years, according to the results of a new survey. Professional services firm Grant Thornton said it surveyed more than 3,300 business leaders in 45 countries for its latest International Business Report (IBR). The company said that optimism among U.S. business leaders climbed 30 percentage points during the first quarter, and achieved a net balance of 66%. In the first quarter of 2014, fewer (29% vs. 37% in Q313) U.S. business leaders cited economic uncertainty as a constraint on their ability to grow their operations over the next 12 months, Grant Thornton said. The firm said that this renewed optimism isn’t limited to U.S. business leaders, either: in the poll, a net 44% of global business leaders expressed optimism in their economic outlook. This is encouraging news, but the real test of business optimism will show up in the number of new projects initiated – and workers hired – over the course of the year. #BusinessConfidence Copyright Today’s Credit Unions
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 21:00:00 +0000