C-Meter: March 2003

With the economy continuing to send mixed signals and the country on the brink of war with Iraq, this month's Economic Confidence Meter barely budged for the third month in a row. CIOs' confidence in the chances for a recovery in the overall economy in the next three months stayed level—5.5 on a scale of 1 to 10—while the score for our respondents' own industry categories rose a tenth of a point, to 5.7. The confidence score for respondents' own companies also remained steady, at 6.5. Significant changes in CIOs' confidence in their own vertical sectors were tallied in the government sector, which rose a full point, to 5.7; and media/publishing/advertising, which fell more than a half a point, to 5.0. Most other major sectors were unchanged.