To many executives, including Wall Street bank chiefs, even the ones who say a recession is in the cards, it isn't looking like a Fed-induced disaster scenario.
In one particular way, the positioning this year is giving CFOs an even bigger role than they've had over the past decade of economic growth.
"[Companies] are not imaging a draconian outcome for their own spending, their own budgets, and in that context," Arora told CNBC's Sara Eisen at Davos 2023.
For many years in this hyper-growth environment, people were spending quickly to drive growth and CFOs were having to call them and say 'why are you spending so much money?'
The Citi CIO Survey released on January 12, forecasts a slower growth rate for tech spending — well below the Covid peak and below the historical average, and down from Citi's last forecast in the Fall — but still representing a modest rate of growth.