CFOs are still stressed about inflation

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The sun is out, summer’s here…but that’s not cheering CFOs up. Financial decision-makers’ outlook about the economy worsened this quarter as rising costs loomed, per the latest CFO Survey by Duke University and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta.

CFO optimism about the US economy averaged at 60.6 on a scale from 0 to 100, a dip from 61.7 in Q1 2026. The most recent survey, which polled 530 respondents, was conducted between May 18 and June 5.

Inflation reared its head again, returning to the top of CFOs’ most-pressing concerns, followed by non-labor costs and geopolitical risks, marking the first time geopolitics made an appearance on the ranking. Can’t imagine why.

And speaking of geopolitical concerns: Two-thirds of surveyed firms said increased oil prices had increased unit costs, though only one-third said the rise in oil prices impacted their firm’s prices. Not that any of that impacted demand: The majority of firms reported little or no change in demand for their firm’s goods and services as a result of increased oil prices.

Outside of specific questions about dinosaur juice, 57% of CFOs said they expect demand for their goods and services to increase in the next 12 months, while 31% anticipate demand will remain the same compared to the last 12 months.

CFOs are less optimistic about other forms of growth. Finance chiefs lowered real US GDP growth expectations for the next four quarters to 1.8%, down from 2.1% in the last survey.

Deloitte’s latest CFO Signals survey, also released June 24, echoed the generally downbeat tone.

In that survey, CFO confidence dropped to 5.9 on a scale of 1 to 10, its second quarterly decline in a row. That score—which isn’t abysmal; it’s just below “the high-confidence range”—was “likely related to respondents’ less optimistic assessment of key global economies,” the report noted.

Not unlike the Duke-Fed survey, CFOs polled by Deloitte—200 North American CFOs were surveyed between May 22 and June 7—were also concerned about inflation, ranking it their second biggest external risk behind supply chain disruptions.

Also similar: Their company-specific confidence. While sentiment about global economics dropped, almost all CFOs surveyed by Deloitte said they’re “significantly or somewhat more optimistic about the future financial prospects for their company.”