The confidence of US executives in their economy plummeted over the past three months, according to the latest McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives. The confidence of executives overall in the global economy was unchanged: more of our respondents are upbeat than not, by a small margin (Exhibit 1). But significant shifts occurred at the regional level; executives in China and in other developing markets (with the exception of India) also reported declining confidence in their country's economy.
This survey reflects the views of more than 5,800 executives from 128 countries. It was conducted just after Hurricane Katrina hit the US Gulf Coast. The destruction caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita halted oil and natural-gas production and refining throughout the region for several weeks, resulting in a price spike for oil on the global market.
Corporate resiliency
The survey also asked executives about their company's performance over time and their corporate capabilities, investments in innovation, and crisis-management tools. See details on these and additional survey findings by clicking on the download PDF icon in the toolbar above.
US-based executives have generally been among the more optimistic in our surveys:...