Good morning.
CEOs turned more dour in the latest Fortune Deloitte poll. (Deloitte sponsors this newsletter.) Some 48% responded that they had a pessimistic outlook, compared to only 38% in our June poll.
What are they pessimistic about? Well, ‘What aren’t they pessimistic about?’ might be the better question. Geopolitics is at the top of their list, mentioned by 51% of the CEOs, right up there with inflation (51%), followed by financial instability (38%). With wars in Europe and the Middle East and continued tension between the U.S. and China, the world bears some frightening similarities to 1914 and 1939. And persistently high interest rates after a decade and a half of free money means there’s a big receding wave that will certainly catch some people “swimming naked,” as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon put it yesterday, paraphrasing one of Warren Buffett’s most famous quotes.
Labor and skills shortages are still on the minds of 35% of CEOs, and increasing regulation is bothering an equal percentage. Cyber risk came in sixth on their list of concerns, mentioned by 25% of CEOs.
And since it is Friday, some feedback. Matt Kobussen of BlackRock corporate communications wrote in response to my Tuesday report that his company’s votes in favor of environmental and social shareholder actions dropped from 41.3% in the 2020-21 proxy year to a mere 8.7% in the 2022-23 proxy year. He claims new SEC rules broadening the scope of shareholder proposals led to a “decline in proposal quality,” and therefore this steep plunge was not a “singular result of politics.” Okay, I accept that. But does “decline in proposal quality” explain a drop of 32 percentage points? I think not. The political backlash has hit its mark.
More news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
