A survey of Iowa’s top business leaders shows a little easing of expectations for the economy in the next six month. Iowa Business Council executive director, Elliott Smith, says the ranking from their quarterly survey dropped three points compared to the last quarter. And it’s down eight points from last year at the same time…
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The survey ranks the sales, capital spending and employment outlooks of the business managers on a 100-point scale. Smith says one indicator of the drop in enthusiasm is a two-point drop in the sales measure.
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Smith says the index for employment or hiring also dropped three points when compared to the last quarter.
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The outlook for capital spending was two points lower than the last quarter and five points below the same time last year. The overall index when all three are combined is 57. The highest overall score was 68 in the second quarter of 2012. The lowest was 35 in the first quarter of 2009.