Executives’ Optimism Fades: Business executives’ expectations for...

Executives’ Optimism Fades: Business executives’ expectations for higher sales and profits in the coming months have dropped to the lowest levels in five years, according to a new national survey. The nationwide quarterly Dun & Bradstreet Corp. survey of 1,500 executives in manufacturing, retailing and wholesaling concerned their outlook for the last three months of 1989. A welcome sign was that while optimism about sales and profits faded, expectations for higher prices and inventories also dropped.