CFO optimism about the economy jumped this quarter, following the recent presidential election. However, chief financial officers expressed post-election concerns about monetary policy, inflation, the political climate, and tariffs.

These findings are from The CFO Survey, a collaboration of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta. This quarter, about half of the 515 respondents were polled in a pre-election survey that closed on Nov. 4. The other half responded to a post-election survey that ran from Nov. 6-19.

Each quarter, CFOs rate their optimism about their own firm’s financial prospects on a 0-100 scale. Averaged across all 515 responses, own-firm optimism increased about two points this quarter, to 71.2. Notably, much of the increase in optimism occurred after the election results were in. Before the election, CFOs reported own-firm optimism of 70.1. Following the election, own-firm optimism increased to 72.4. Own-firm optimism among large companies increased to 76.0 after the election. 

CFOs also reported their outlook for the broader economy. CFO optimism about the overall economy jumped from 62.8 before the election to 68.8 following the election. By sector, companies in manufacturing and construction experienced the largest increases following the election. Expected growth in real GDP for 2025 increased from 1.9 last quarter to 2.16 in the pre-election survey and to 2.33 after the election.

“This jump in optimism reflects the resolution of uncertainty about the presidential election, combined with a sense that the tax and regulatory policies of the new administration will broadly benefit the corporate sector,” said John Graham, a Duke Fuqua School of Business finance professor and the academic director of the survey. “A similar surge in business optimism occurred the first time President Trump was elected in 2016.”

“Despite this boost in optimism, financial executives also expressed heightened concerns about several items,” Graham added.

In the pre-election survey, the top worry for CFOs was hiring and retaining employees. Following the election, monetary policy became the top concern, followed by concerns about labor availability, inflation, the political climate, and tariffs. Prior to the election, tariffs had never before appeared on the list of top 10 concerns.

This survey also created the CFO Policy Importance Index, which is scaled so that the most important policy issue facing companies has a value of 100. Following the election, regulatory policy topped the Policy Importance Index with a value of 100, followed by corporate taxes (86), monetary policy (83), fiscal spending (65), individual taxes (50), and health care (43).

The CFO Survey is issued by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Atlanta. The latest survey, a detailed analysis of the impact of the election on the corporate outlook, and historical data and can be found at www.cfosurvey.org. Sign up to receive email notifications when new results are posted.