News built for finance pros
CFO Brew helps finance pros navigate their roles with insights into risk management, compliance, and strategy through our newsletter, virtual events, and digital guides.
Feels like there are a lot of “yes, buts” happening in the business world right now after Donald Trump’s electoral win.
The latest: Many finance leaders are more optimistic about the economy this quarter, despite some anxieties over monetary policy, tariffs, inflation, and politics in general, the Richmond Fed revealed in its latest CFO survey.
Avid readers of CFO Brew may be feeling déjà vu, because this revelation sounds similar to a post-election boost in optimism among some manufacturers, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
According to the Richmond Fed survey, CFOs were more optimistic about their own firm’s prospects and the overall economy. Own-firm optimism increased about two points from Q3 to 71.2, on a scale of 0–100. Much of this boost came from CFOs who answered the survey in the days after the Nov. 5 election—around half of the 515 respondents.
Finance leaders’ optimism for the overall economy jumped by an even greater degree, to 65.9 (again, from 0–100) this quarter versus 60.6 in Q3. The difference between those surveyed pre-election (62.8) and post-election (68.8) was also markedly different.
“This jump in optimism reflects the resolution of uncertainty about the presidential election, combined with a sense that the tax and regulatory policies of the new administration will broadly benefit the corporate sector,” John Graham, finance professor at Duke University and the academic director of the survey, said in a news release. “A similar surge in business optimism occurred the first time President Trump was elected in 2016.”
The election also showed a shift in CFOs’ top concerns. Those polled before the election said their top concern was hiring and keeping employees. Meanwhile, those who responded post-election identified monetary policy as their top concern, followed by labor availability, inflation, the current political climate, and tariffs. According to the Richmond Fed, “prior to the election, tariffs had never before appeared on the list of top 10 concerns.”