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U.S. CEO confidence falls to record low: survey


    NEW YORK (Reuters) - A measure of U.S. chief executives' confidence in the economy set a record low in December amid expectations for higher oil prices and interest rates, according to a monthly survey.

    The CEO Confidence Index fell 9.1 points to 40.9 last month, Chief Executive magazine said on Thursday. Measures of current and future confidence, business conditions and investment confidence were all down from the prior month.

    More than 90 percent of the 245 senior executives surveyed said business conditions were "bad," and about 80 percent said they expected employment to fall in the current quarter.

    The CEO index, which started with a base of 100 in October 2002, peaked above 182 in January 2006.

    On average, the executives polled said they expected the Dow Jones industrial average to gain about 5 percent this year to about 9,253. They expect the Fed Funds rate to be about 1.19 percent by the end of 2009 and oil prices to rise to about $55 per barrel, according to Chief Executive.

    At the extremes, some executives said the Dow could fall as low as 4,000 in 2009, or rally as high as 17,000 points.

    Last year's CEO market predictions were way off. This time a year ago, CEOs expected the Dow to end 2008 above 13,000, with oil at $89 and the Fed Funds rate above 4 percent.

    (Reporting by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)