CEO Confidence Diverges Globally, With Europe Lagging the US and China
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CEO Confidence Diverges Globally, With Europe Lagging the US and China

01 July 2026 / Backgrounder

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The latest Measures of CEO Confidence by The Conference Board®, compiled between late April and early May, display diverging trends across geographies: a deterioration in Europe, little change in the US (when compared with Q4 2025), and a small improvement in China. CEO confidence is below neutral (i.e., below 50) for both Europe (40) and the US (47) and is positive for China (56)

 

The latest Measures of CEO Confidence by The Conference Board®, compiled between late April and early May, display diverging trends across geographies: a deterioration in Europe, little change in the US (when compared with Q4 2025), and a small improvement in China. CEO confidence is below neutral (i.e., below 50) for both Europe (40) and the US (47) and is positive for China (56)

 

Europe’s CEO confidence has lagged the US and China since H2 2024

Note: Since results for US CEO Confidence are quarterly, H1 corresponds to Q2 surveys and H2 to Q4 to match Europe’s and China’s results.
Source: The Conference Board, 2026

Contrasting views on the three components of the index—current and future business conditions and industry-specific expectations—explain the differences across regions:

  • China’s CEOs positivity is underpinned by strong perceptions about current business conditions, with over half of respondents saying that business conditions are now better than six months ago, and one-third expecting them to improve further in the upcoming six months (52% expect them to stay about the same)

Author

Alejandro Fiorito

Alejandro Fiorito Alejandro Fiorito

Economist
The Conference Board

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