08/18/2025

CEO Confidence Falters In August Poll amid Revived Tariff Concerns

It's being termed "an economic goat rodeo"

After months of promising that once deals were in place there would be more certainty about the economy, clearing the path for businesses to move forward, it turns out that things aren't so clear after all. The tariffs going into effect on August 7 did little to calm markets—or CEOs.

That's at least according to Chief Executive's latest reading of CEO confidence, conducted among 359 U.S. CEOs August 5-6. We find CEOs downgrading their view of both current business conditions (to 5.2 out of 10 from 5.6 in July, measured on a scale where 1 is Poor and 10 is Excellent) and business conditions will look like 12 months from now (5.7 out of 10 by this time in 2026—nearly 10 percent lower than the 6.3 forecast they shared in July.)

The proportion of CEOs forecasting improvements in the business environment over the next 12 months declined to 49 percent in August, from 58 percent in July, while those expecting conditions to deteriorate increased from 19 percent to 27 percent—the worst we've seen since  May.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Chief Executive.