The group rating the future of the economy as "no change" increased from 28.3 percent in February to 35.2 percent.
A total of 528 CMOs responded to The CMO Survey, with 86 percent of those representing a level of vice president or above. The survey was conducted between July 17 and Aug. 3, 2012.
"The greatest pessimism lies among business-to-business companies. These companies have not seen their markets rebound," said Christine Moorman, director of The CMO Survey and professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. "Furthermore, for the first time in the history of The CMO Survey, pessimists, optimists and the 'no change' group are nearly equal, indicating a great deal of uncertainty and no strong consensus about the direction of the economy."