C-Meter: January 2003

Perhaps it's the holiday spirit, or the good—or at least not bad—news from the markets. This month's Economic Confidence Meter showed a rise in CIOs' confidence in the chances for a recovery in the overall economy in the next three months of almost a half a point, to 5.4 from 5.0, though the reasons for the jump are unclear. Meanwhile, the score for our respondents' own industry categories moved up to 5.6 from 5.3, while the score for their own companies rose to 6.3 from 6.2. Among the big industry sector gainers: Transportation rose two full points, to 6.1, while both energy/utilities and computer manufacturing rose about 1.5 points, to 5.7 and 5.1, respectively. The usually ebullient hospitality/travel sector fell seven tenths of a point, to 5.3, its lowest level ever.