Fewer CEOS plan to hire, raise spending

A survey of chief executives shows fewer large U.S. companies plan to hire or boost spending in the next six months. The Business Roundtable says 36% of its CEO members plan to add workers in the next six months, down from 42% three months ago. Jim McNerney, the group’s chairman and CEO of Boeing, blamed the dip in sentiment on “concern over increasingly persistent obstacles to a stronger recovery.” Overall, the CEO Outlook survey index fell to 89.1 in the second quarter, down from 96.9 in the first three months of the year. Any reading above 50 indicates growth.