Executives’ expectations for corporate profit are on the rise. Fifty-six percent expect an increase in the next six months, up from just 45 percent in September. And although more executives are worried about low consumer demand than any other threat to economic growth, a bigger share now also expect demand for their companies’ products or services to increase over the next six months than they did in September. In spite of this hope for improvement, executives do indicate that they’re hedging their bets a bit. The share saying their companies are postponing capital investments or M&A has risen somewhat since June,¹ perhaps an indication that many are waiting to see how the eurozone crisis plays out.

More broadly, executives from around the world say they are only a little more worried about several threats to economic growth, including sovereign-debt defaults,² than they were in September. At a global level, economic expectations aren’t very different, with larger shares responding somewhat more negatively than positively. But there have been some notable regional changes, mostly for the better—even among executives in the eurozone, where the share expecting economic conditions in their countries to worsen in the next six months has fallen...