Businesspeople have become more gloomy about future business conditions, according to the latest Economist/FT global business barometer, a quarterly survey of over 1,500 executives. Overall, the balance of those who think global business conditions will improve over those who think it will worsen fell from +5.2 percentage points in the second quarter of this year, to +2. Confidence has deteriorated in all regions except Europe (though 83% there reckon the euro-area crisis is not over). Latin America and Asia had the sharpest falls, and sentiment is once again negative. North American bosses used to be fairly optimistic, but their sentiment has turned negative.
