Overall, businesses continue to be positive about the economic outlook, notwithstanding lower expectations for U.S. economic growth and recent financial market turbulence.
Expectations regarding future sales growth are essentially unchanged from the last survey. Investment and employment intentions have declined from the very high levels reported in the previous survey, but continue to be solid.
On balance, businesses expect their sales over the next 12 months to increase at a rate slightly above that posted during the preceding 12 months. Hiring and investment intentions have not changed significantly since the last survey.