This year hasn't been easy to navigate for business leaders, but Chief Executive's latest CEO Confidence Index finds renewed hope among the country's business chiefs. CEO confidence jumped more than 10 percent in the first week of October, to land at 5.7 on our 10-point scale, the second highest rating of the year since January’s 6.3/10.
CEOs' outlook for the year ahead also improved, finally climbing out of "Weak" territory (where it spent most of 2025) into "Good" territory—though just barely, at 6.0 out of 10, the exact “Good” marker on the scale. That's an 8 percent jump since September (5.5) and a 6 percent improvement over current conditions.
Few CEOs provided rationale for their optimism in this month’s survey, though some cited the hope of lower interest rates and deregulation as top drivers, while others said their sector was simply performing well.
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