EXECUTIVES SOUR ON STATE ECONOMY FOR 1Q IN 2019

Business optimism for the next two quarters in Colorado took a dive, likely because of rising economic and political uncertainty, according to the latest Leeds Business Confidence Index (LBCI) from the University of Colorado Boulder.

The LBCI surveys business leaders in the state every quarter, asking them how optimistic they are about the state economy, U.S. economy, and industry sales, hiring and capital spending.

While all the measures remain positive for the fourth quarter, the confidence scores fell sharply. The overall index marked its seventh biggest drop since the Leeds Business Research Division started the index more than 15 years ago.

Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2019, expectations for the U.S. economy turned negative.

“There has been a lot of conjecture about the national economy in 2019, and then further in 2020,” Rich Wobbekind, who oversaw the report, said in a news release. “Perhaps they’re looking at higher interest rates. The uncertainty in the U.S. economy is out there.”

The midterm elections in November could be weighing on confidence. Democrats are expected to pick up several House seats and have an outside shot of even turning the Senate.

“Political uncertainty tends to affect the confidence. It has in the past,” Wobbekind said, noting the last big drop in the index came two years ago ahead of the 2016 election. Confidence, however, bounced back quickly after Donald Trump won the presidency.