CFOs around Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are more optimistic about the economies in North America than they were in the previous quarter, according to a Deloitte report released this morning.
CFO Signals states that in a survey of around 100 CFOs around North America in 2013’s second quarter, about 65% said they feel optimistic about the economic trajectory in those regions over the next year.
About 53% of respondents said they feel optimistic about China’s economy. The report states that the CFOs felt that expectations for Europe were “dour,” with only 14% responding that they feel optimistic about the economies in Europe.
Overall, optimism rose from +32 in the first quarter to +46 in Q2, with 60% of respondents reporting “rising optimism.”
Other findings of the report include:
- the top concerns about international expansion include what the report refers to as governments’ increasingly aggressive efforts to tax foreign companies’ profits and taxes on both passive income and repatriated earnings;
- nearly 60% of respondents said they feel U.S. equities are overvalued, while 4% think they are undervalued; and
- the CFOs’ greatest concerns were centred around global economic recovery and growth, and less so on the economies in specific countries.
