Consumer Demand, Not Trade War, Among CFOs Top Concerns

Risk assessment is part of the daily grind for any business, so when the U.S. stirred up trade controversies with other countries, economists saw American businesses’ concerns rise. While many believed the trade war was among these worries, a new CNBC survey suggests there are worse fears in the business community, specifically consumer demand.

On Sept. 20, CNBC released its Global CFO Council quarterly survey that ranked the “biggest external risk factor currently facing” businesses. In the first quarter of 2018, U.S. trade policy was the most concerning to CFOs at nearly 30%, but has since dropped to 10.4%. At that time, consumer demand was worrisome to about 21% of CFOs and steadily increased to almost 46% in the third quarter. In addition to U.S. trade policy, concerns of cyberattacks and over-regulation also decreased further into the year, while central bank policy increased minimally.

“The council’s global economic outlook remains finely balanced, with only two of 11 countries or regions—Brazil, and Latin America excluding Brazil—seen as ‘declining,’” CNBC reported. “All other areas were rated as ‘stable,’ except for the United States, which is ‘improving.’”

The majority of respondents in the third quarter noted that the technology sector will most likely see the biggest growth in the next six months, followed by the construction sector. The costs of labor are also expected to increase the most in those six months, as costs of raw materials and capital steadily rise.

—Andrew Michaels, editorial associate