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.
