Pessimism persists among Colorado biz leaders

BOULDER — For the better part of the past two years, Colorado business leaders have lacked confidence in a host of economic factors, and that sense of pessimism only strengthened heading into the fourth quarter of 2026. 

The University of Colorado’s Leeds Business Confidence Index (LBCI) — which measured the sentiment of 205 survey respondents in September on six categories: the state economy, national economy, industry sales, industry profits and industry hiring — fell from 43.2 ahead of the third quarter to 40.7 heading into the home stretch of the year. An index score of 50 is neutral — a score below 50 suggests pessimism.

“Despite the pessimistic outlook, all six components of the index were higher than a year ago,” the report said. 

All six LBCI metrics were below the 50-point threshold, and all fell in the most recent report, which records both quantitative confidence scores and qualitative anecdotes from business leaders.

“Discussions about policy, regulation and costs pervaded several of the open-ended questions,” Brian Lewandowski, executive director of CU’s Business Research Division, said in a statement that accompanied the LBCI report. “Sentiments shared in the open-ended questions reflected the general pessimism.”

Nearly half of respondents noted concerns with government and politics, “the most frequently cited reason for respondents’ near-term sentiment,” according to the report. That was “followed by inflation and cost-of-living concerns at 39% and interest rates and financial market conditions at 31%.”

Looking ahead, CU economists predict that the LBCI score will rise to 42.3.

Share on Facebook on LinkedIn