CEO optimism dipped in recent months as economic headwinds — from the invasion of Ukraine to high inflation to lingering supply chain challenges — took their toll on expectations for the rest of 2022.

The results come from the Business Roundtable’s CEO Economic Outlook for the first quarter of 2022.

The overall outlook dropped nine points to a level of 115. Still, that remains well above the survey's long-term average and comes off a record high in the fourth quarter of 2020. The survey saw declines in every specific measure it tracks: plans for hiring, plans for capital investment, and expectations for sales.

“We once again find ourselves in unprecedented times both domestically and abroad,” Business Roundtable Chair Mary Barra, General Motors (GM) Chair and CEO, said in a statement upon the release.

The Business Roundtable surveys its members each quarter with the intent to gauge CEO expectations for the next six months. This survey was conducted between Feb. 22 — two days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine — and March 11.

‘It is important to strengthen the U.S. economy’

The DC-based group is made up of CEOs of hundreds of the nation's largest companies from medical device giant Abbott to U.S. drugmaker Zoetis with a mission to “promote a thriving U.S. economy and expanded opportunity for all Americans through sound public policy.”

Just last quarter, the overall economic outlook rose to the highest level in its 20-year history. In that survey in November, the CEOs took note of headwinds like more coronavirus variants, supply chain issues, and labor shortages. Despite those bubbling concerns, the CEOs continued a march upwards from historic lows in optimism in early 2020.

The latest number reflects a dip, but only to the levels recorded by the organization in the second and third quarters of 2021. It's still far above the lows seen during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to travel to the group’s DC headquarters Monday evening to discuss the topics weighing on CEOs' minds. Key to Biden's agenda is the America COMPETES Act, which would set aside $52 billion to spur U.S. manufacturing of semiconductors among other products largely produced overseas.

Barra called for lawmakers to pass the bill, which the Senate will debate this week. That bill would “increase U.S. innovation leadership, help strengthen the U.S. economy and expand opportunity for all Americans,” Barra said.

Business Roundtable CEO Joshua Bolten — the former chief of staff to George W. Bush — pushed for changes Biden might be less friendly to such as fewer regulations and lower taxes. He's also urging policymakers boost U.S. energy production to combat high gas prices.

“It is important to strengthen the U.S. economy by keeping a competitive tax and regulatory environment,” Bolten said.

‘The consumer is very, very strong’

Three CEOs recently interviewed by Yahoo Finance who belong to the Roundtable pointed to the mixed atmosphere that CEOs face.

ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott recently told Yahoo Finance he's bullish on 2022 but that he's focused on retaining employees amid the tight labor market. "I'm in the middle of a talent war," he said. "I have to keep my best people happy."

Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla, for his part, recently told Yahoo Finance that it's "is a likely scenario" that another wave of COVID-19 will be more severe. But, he added, "What we have to do is to ourselves to outsmart the virus and be always ahead of it."

XPO Logistics, Inc. Chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs sounded another optimistic note on Yahoo Finance recently, batting down the chances of a recession anytime soon. "Right now the consumer is very, very strong and the industrial economy is in its early innings of growth," he said.

Still, he said that high gas prices would slow the growth of the economy.

Ben Werschkul is a writer and producer for Yahoo Finance in Washington, DC.

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