CFO confidence drops

The CFOs are not all right.

Economic sentiment among finance leaders dropped considerably in Q2 compared to the previous quarter, according to Deloitte’s latest CFO Signals survey.

In Q1, CFOs had the highest economic optimism on Deloitte’s confidence scale in 13 quarters. But in the Q2 poll, worries ticked up and the score dropped to a “medium” outlook on business conditions.

The firm conducted the survey between June 4 and June 18, amid Israel’s bombing of Iran and, months of yo-yoing tariffs, as well as expanding ICE raids. All that news translated into a drop in “enthusiasm for the North American economy.” Only 23% of CFOs rated it as “good” or “very good.”

And the future didn’t look very bright to CFOs either. Only 11% of respondents thought business conditions in North America would be “much better in a year.” This was a big drop from Q4 2024, when 37% thought the economy would be better in 12 months.

CFOs’ pessimism extended to their own organizations. Growth expectations declined across every key operational metric: “revenues, earnings, dividends, capital allocation, domestic hiring, and domestic wages and salaries.” Revenue growth took the biggest hit, from a 6% projected increase in Q4 2024 to a measly 1% in Q2 2025. Capital expenditure growth also saw a significant drop, from 4% to 1%.

So maybe a medium confidence was…optimistic.