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Recession Catches Up
New report expects more than half of businesses will go into 2009 with unprecedented pullback in capital spending.
from AICPA Custom Media Solutions

It’s the recession, stupid. Yes, it has finally reached sales. Key businesses are pulling back and heading into 2009 with abysmal visibility. Latest survey conducted by ChangeWave (a subsidiary of InvestorPlace Media, LLC), a capital research network, found more than half (51%) of survey respondents projecting that their company sales will come in below plan for Q4 2008, 16 points worse than the previous quarter. The survey also found:

• Thirty-one percent of respondents say there are less new hires in their company at this point in Q4 vs. last quarter;
   
• Thirty percent of respondents said that it is harder for their company to borrow money than it was just 90 days ago;
   
• Sales pipeline projections for Q1 2009 show 39 percent of respondents reporting they'll come in below plan;
   
• Forty-five percent of respondents estimate a decrease in their company's 2009 Q3 capital budget compared with the current quarter.

The ChangeWave corporate quarterly survey was completed on December 1, with a sample of more than 3,000 U.S. respondents.