Feeling Good. Proceed with Caution.

Financial-services executives are feeling positive - positive about the current state of the U.S. economy, positive about current business and industry prospects, and, alright, only somewhat positive about IT budget and spending plans.

At least that's what a recent study of Wall Street & Technology readers - management-level business and technology executives from securities and investment firms - found. The research was culled via 50 telephone interviews with a random sampling of Wall Street & Technology readers. Another 50 interviews were conducted with each of our sister publication's readers - Insurance & Technology and Bank Systems & Technology - to offer a picture of how Wall Street compares with the greater financial-services industry.

Nearly half of respondents report being positive about budgets and spending while the other half reported feeling neutral. Lastly, expect to see more projects being initiated on Wall Street as the industry is feeling good about its ability to spend on new initiatives.

InformationWeek Research has been tracking confidence levels of business-technology leaders for several years, and of the 400 executives surveyed representing all industries, (we highlight here only the 150 in the financial-services space), confidence levels are at their highest levels in three years.Despite the positive vibes, executives have learned from the boom of the '90s and the bust of 2000. As a result, one thing is clear, they will proceed with caution.

What the survey found is on the following pages.

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