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The survey also showed them somewhat more optimistic about their own company’s prospects. Last year 61 percent of the CFOs surveyed expected improvement in their company’s revenue. This year, 64 percent do.

It may not be a booster club for the economy — they gave the economy a score of 47 out of 100 — but it does add to the sense that the U.S. is climbing out of the hole.

Brian Moynihan, B of A CEO and president, said in a PBS interview the other night, “I think we’re in a recovery and we continue to make progress for it.”

To get companies to do more hiring, Moynihan said they have to believe that their top line is going to be improving and the recovery will continue.

That’s not so easy, of course. Earlier this year, when the U.S. Census was hiring hundreds of thousands of workers and the stock market was rising, there was a sense of optimism that the nation was on the right track. The Consumer Confidence Index in May was at 63.3, its highest point in two years. Grant Thornton’s Business Optimism Index stood at 67.6, more than 13 points higher than the year before. And 63 percent of the business leaders it surveyed thought the U.S. economy was improving.

Now, business leaders are more cautious and consumers wary. The Consumer Confidence Index is rising, but only a bit every month, after falling sharply since May. In November it was at 54.1. The most recent Grant Thornton survey says only 47 percent of business leaders believe the economy is improving. Better than the August survey when only 34 percent thought that.

What these surveys and others are saying is that most of us — consumers and business leaders — are hopeful, but we need to be convinced that what the data is showing is both real and sustainable.