Dive Brief:

• The CONFINDEX of construction-company chief financial officers found their confidence in the economic outlook and business climate sank 0.8% from the second quarter of this year to the third, which matched the decline from the first quarter to the second.
• The latest results mean 2013 will be the second year in a row in which CFOs began with a fair amount of optimism and lost ikt as the year progressed.
• The various indices that go into the larger index are still ahead of where they were last year, however.

Dive Insight:

These numbers may say as much about the pace of recovery as the actual conditions. The CFOs overall ranked financials and business conditions ahead of 2012, but they seem to be expressing some frustration that it remains a plodding recovery in many parts of the industry.