US CEOs optimistic about economy, wary of hiring

The Business Roundtable said Wednesday that 72 percent of its members expect sales will increase in the next six months. That's up from 58 percent at the end of last year. And 38 percent plan to invest more in plant and equipment, up from 30 percent in October-December quarter, when the Roundtable released its last report.

Still, the better outlook hasn't made the group more optimistic about hiring. Twenty-nine percent of CEOs plan to increase hiring over the next six months, the same percentage as the last two surveys.

The executives are more comfortable with their current staffing levels and are less inclined to lay off workers. The percentage of CEOs planning to cut jobs fell to 25 percent from 29 percent, the second straight drop.

Even so, employers added 236,000 jobs in February, the government said last week. That capped a four-month hiring spree in which job gains averaged more than 200,000 per month. And it drove down the unemployment rate to a four-year low of 7.7 percent from 7.9 percent in January.