GLOBAL business confidence cooled in June as the euro zone debt crisis took its toll, though corporate sentiment in the United States held up better, a survey by financial information firm Markit showed yesterday.

    The percentage of companies around the world that expected business activity to rise over the next 12 months outnumbered those anticipating a decline by a margin of 37 percent, according to Markit’s global business outlook survey.

    That was down from a difference of 44 percent in February, when Markit last did the survey of 11,000 manufacturing and services companies.

    Even with the decline, the survey pointed to economic expansion, Markit said, and sentiment was still better than October’s post-crisis low, when optimists exceeded pessimists by 32 percent.

    Hiring intentions for the next year also waned, with 17 percent more companies planning to expand over those that did not, down from a gap of 19 percent in February.

    Expectations for business activity in the euro zone dropped off to a margin of 16 percent from 26 percent. The United States fared much better, with those that expected activity to pick up outpacing those that did not by 57 percent, though that was down from 69 percent earlier in the year. (SD-Agencies)