Discussion Paper

Fifth District Firms Are Optimistic Going Into 2025

Abstract: Around the start of the new year, the Richmond Fed adds questions to its monthly business surveys to gauge Fifth District firms' expectations for their business and for the U.S. economy in the upcoming year. In the previous two years, firms were cautious in their expectations, with about half of firms optimistic while one in five firms were pessimistic about the coming year. (For previous analyses, follow these links for the 2023 outlook and the 2024 outlook.) This made sense as the past two years experienced residual effects from the COVID-19 pandemic, decades-high inflation, and an extremely tight labor market. However, firms relayed significantly more optimism going into 2025, both for their own firms and for the U.S. economy. When firms were asked about their concerns for 2025, geopolitical uncertainty, worker availability, and tax rates topped the list.

Keywords: business surveys; economic outlook; Fifth District;

Bibliographic Information

Provider: Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond

Part of Series: Regional Matters

Publication Date: 2025-01-07