Business Confidence

As my regular readers know, I report on business confidence on a fairly consistent basis. According to the most recent Economy.com poll, business confidence has remained unchanged over the past month, after it recovered significantly following the Iraq war. Confidence is the strongest in North America, and the weakest in Asia at this time. U.S. manufacturers remain fairly upbeat, while Asian travel companies are depressed. Weak sales remain businesses’ biggest concern at this time.

Asian and European business confidence levels are soft. Asian confidence may have hit bottom, as SARS has seemingly been brought under control. European confidence is softening, as the stronger euro is a growing matter of concern. The euro zone economy is seen by many as being back in recession, led by Germany's lackluster economy.

Article link. (If you subscribe to Economy.com.)