Grant Thornton LLP’s Business Optimism Index, a quarterly confidence measure of U.S. business leaders, rose from 37.6 in February 2009 to the pre-recession level of 54.5 in May. In addition, 54 percent believe that the economy will come out of recession in the first half of 2010.

The survey found that U.S. business leaders’ sentiments toward the U.S. economy have greatly improved, with 45 percent of the respondents expecting conditions to improve over the next six months compared to 17 percent in February 2009. They are also more positive about the outlook for their own businesses, with 62 percent feeling optimistic about their companies’ growth over the next six months. Also, the number who said that they have plans to decrease staffing in the next six months saw the first drop since the recession started in November, decreasing from 45 percent in February to 30 percent in May.



About the Grant Thornton Business Optimism Index

The Grant Thornton Business Optimism Index, a quarterly survey of U.S. Business Leaders, comprises three measures:

* U.S. economy: Business leaders’ perceptions of whether the U.S. economy will improve, remain the same or deteriorate in the next six months.

* Business growth: Business leaders’ perceptions about the growth of their own businesses over the next six months.

* [b]Hiring expectations:[/]b Whether business leaders expect the number of people their companies employ to increase, remain the same or decrease in the next six months.