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Poll of CFOs Finds Many Remain Pessimistic on Economy

A recent poll of CFOs finds that many still see dark times ahead for the U.S. economy and expect their own companies to be negatively impacted by the global pandemic, according to CNBC.com. Forty-one of the 130 members of the Global CFO Council—a group of chief financial officers representing public and private companies from various major sectors—responded to the survey; nearly half of the respondents, 48.8 percent, believe the global pandemic will have a negative impact on their businesses, while another 39 percent said the impact would be "very negative."

The same survey found that the majority, 51 percent, also believe that the stock market rally cannot last, predicting that the Dow will eventually crash back down to below 19,000 before any sort of new record is set. Only 22 percent  expect the Dow to reach a new record high without first experiencing another major decline.

This puts the CFOs at odds with Goldman Sachs. While the investment bank had previously been bearish on the economy, Bloomberg is reporting that it now is slightly more optimistic: Before, it had predicted that the S&P 500 would sink below 2,400 before this crisis was over, but it has now revised those numbers to 2,750 at the very worst. With Friday seeing the index rise to 3,044, the bank said it could soon see a further rally to 3,200 points.