Business Confidence Drops Nationally, But Stays High In Colorado

BOULDER, CO – A quarterly poll of Colorado business leaders showed a bit of pessimism for the state of the national economy for the rest of 2018, but the outlook for the Colorado economy improved, in their opinion. University of Colorado's Leeds Business Confidence Index (LBCI), released in early July by the Leeds Business Research Division shows local business leaders don't have much confidence in growth in industry sales, industry profits, industry hiring and capital expenditures leading into the second half of 2018.

But Colorado's economy is another story, said Richard Wobbekind of the Leeds BRD.

“The most recent data for Colorado, May over May, has 2.7 percent employment growth. So very strong growth and the survey reflects that,” said Wobbekind in a statement. “Business leaders are seeing the strength of the economy, the growth in personal income, the growth in state output and they are reflecting that going forward."

Those questioned were most pessimistic about capital expenditures, which saw the sharpest drop (roughly six percent), with more panelists saying they expect a moderate decrease in spending in the third and fourth quarters (10.4 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively). Most panelists said they expect no change in spending (more than 46 percent ahead of the third quarter), the school said.

Top concerns were labor shortages, affordable housing and trade policy going into the second half of 2018.

As far as policy, Wobbekind said, business leaders worry less about specific policy decisions, and more about uncertainty, the school said.

“They really want those policies clarified so they can make a decision based on reality,” said Wobbekind.

All in all, the survey showed "confidence remains positive across the board," the survey concluded.

You can read the complete report here.

Image via Shutterstock

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