US CEOs voice confidence, but deals say otherwise

New York

FOR the past several months, ever since the election, chief executives of the US's largest companies have repeatedly professed to be more confident than ever. They say, in survey after survey, that they are more optimistic about the economy and their own businesses, waxing about the prospect of lower regulations and lower taxes under President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress. Investors, at the same time, have bid up the stock market.

Yet there is a remarkable divergence between what chief executives have been saying aloud and what they are actually doing in practice. They may not be as confident as they say they are.