Overall, 73% of CEOs and 82% of investors expect the global economy to improve over the first six months of 2026. Optimism is slightly softer than a year earlier, and the split between large and mid-sized companies is widening. Teneo notes that large-cap CEO confidence has fallen 20 points y-o-y, while mid-cap executives and investors remain “overwhelmingly positive”. In the report, mid-cap CEOs are also the most bullish cohort, with 80% expecting improvement in the first half of 2026 versus 31% for large-cap executives.
Global CEOs and institutional investors are heading into 2026 with confidence in growth, dealmaking and hiring, even as they brace for higher capital costs, geopolitical uncertainty and a tougher debate over whether corporate AI spend is paying off.
That is the picture from Teneo’s Vision 2026 CEO and Investor Outlook Survey, based on responses from more than 350 CEOs of global public companies and 400 institutional investors representing about US$19 trillion of company and portfolio value. The research was conducted between Oct 14 and Nov 10 this year.
