Deficits are cause for concern.CONCERNED ABOUT the nation's yawning yawning a deep, involuntary inspiration with the mouth open, often accompanied by the act of stretching. Repeated yawning in the presence of other signs, may accompany signs of chronic abdominal pain or hepatic disease. budget and trade deficits and the costs in time and money to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act See SOX. , chief executives are tempered in their outlook on the U.S. economy. At the same time, they say, the devaluation devaluation, decreasing the value of one nation's currency relative to gold or the currencies of other nations. It is usually undertaken as a means of correcting a deficit in the balance of payments. of the dollar has had little, if any, impact on their businesses. The composite CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Confidence Index dropped 6.4 points in February, to 163.5 (see chart, below left). It was the second consecutive month of decline, although the index remained high in comparison with the benchmark level of 100 established at the inception of the monthly survey in October 2002. Each of the component indices also declined, with the fall-offs ranging from 4.4 points in Investment Confidence (now 138.0) to 9.3 points in Employment Confidence (172.9). Continuing a recent trend, CEOs remained significantly more confident about the present than the near future, one-quarter ahead, suggesting that overall confidence may slip even further. The burden of increased government regulation weighs heavily on many CEOs minds, judging from written comments submitted with the 518 responses to the February survey. David J David J. Haskins (b. April 24, 1957, in Northampton, England) is a British alternative rock musician. He was the bassist for the seminal gothic rock band Bauhaus. Life and work . Moore, chairman and CEO of 24/7 Real Media, a marketing and technology firm based in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , described Sarbanes-Oxley as "crippling to smaller companies, where the risk of fraud is not as great to shareholders" as it is at large corporations. The weakening of the dollar, believed by some economic and political leaders to be a stimulus for American business, has done little to allay al·lay tr.v. al·layed, al·lay·ing, al·lays 1. To reduce the intensity of; relieve: allay back pains. See Synonyms at relieve. 2. CEOs' concerns. In a bonus question about how the dollar's decline has impacted their businesses in various ways, including hiring, sales growth, the expected cost of goods sold Cost of goods sold The total cost of buying raw materials, and paying for all the factors that go into producing finished goods. cost of goods sold and expected profits, CEOs overwhelmingly said it had no effect at all (see below right). Some chief executives tied the dollar's devaluation to the mounting deficits in Washington. "The weakness of the dollar versus other currencies will not be reversed until the world currency markets become convinced that the present administration is truly committed to reversing the U.S.'s huge current account and fiscal budget deficits," said Ron Samuel, president of Underwood Asset Management in Chicago. RELATED ARTICLE: THE NUMBERS [GRAPHIC OMITTED]
U.S. $ Exchange Rate
How has the dollar's recent devaluation affected your company?
Positive No Affect Negative
Hiring/Jobs 14.1% 77.0% 8.9%
Sales Growth 31.7% 57.9% 10.5%
Cost of Goods Sold 11.3% 57.0% 31.7%
Corporate Profit 23.6% 44.8% 31.6%
Note: Table made from bar graph.
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