In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the October Confidence Meter took a surprising turn upward. CIO’s confidence in the chances that the overall economy would recover in the next 90 days shot up to 5.3, the highest score ever, while the sector and company scores—at 5.6 and 6.6 respectively—also surpassed or tied previous highs. Among industries most directly affected, a new sector score low of 2.5 was understandably set by the hospitality/travel industry, which also gave the chances for an overall economic recovery a 4.2. But financial services CIOs scored a respectable 5.0 on the overall economy and an above-average 6.1 for their own sector.
