The survey says that the optimism of the financial manager has decreased with the development of Trump’s tariff plans

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Optimism has decreased among the company’s chief financial officials in the first quarter, as the risk of tariffs and uncertainty began to overcome expectations between the executives of the business that President Donald Trump won in the elections, according to a survey of two federal reserve banks and Duke University.

On a scale ranging from 0 to 100, average optimism decreased between about 400 financial managers, and the main players in spending, investment and pricing decisions that could affect the direction of the economy, from the rise of 66 of the epidemic era at the end of last year to 62.1 in the current quarter.

The index decreased to 50.5 while increasing the epidemic from inflation, but rose to about 60 before jumping 6 points after Trump was elected.

Only one sector, a building, showed increasing optimism since then, from 66.6 to 68. Optimism between financial managers in manufacturing, the Trump sector said it will help by imposing taxes on imports, from 66.6 to 61.6.

The decline seemed to be linked to increasing interest in the unconfirmed impact of tariffs and Trump efforts to re -conduct global trade. The financial manager now expects slower growth and higher prices than it was at the end of last year.

“The uncertainty and commercial policy were clearly in the minds of the financial manager,” said Sonia Ravenworthy Wadel, Vice President and Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond.

“It was not limited to nearly a third of the respondents about concerns about the customs tariff, but these respondents were noticeably optimism, the decrease in expectations for GDP growth, forecasts of revenue and employment growth, and higher expectations for price growth in 2025.”

The Director’s Financial Director’s poll follows a recent decrease in a survey of the Conference Council on consumer morale, which in March decreased to the lowest level of four years with families’ fear of both stagnation and high inflation.

(Participated in the reports of Howard Schneider, edited by Nick Ziminski)