Deloitte Insights released its third quarter CFO Signals this week, which showed a modest increase in confidence for the quarter. The 5.7 reading marks the second quarter in a row that the score has gone up—but it still remains in medium territory.

Deloitte’s North American CFO Signals survey is a quarterly survey that captures the perspectives and actions of chief financial officers from some of North America’s largest and most influential businesses. The survey gauges CFO sentiment across a number of fronts, including the economy, capital markets and the issues keeping them up at night.

CFO confidence score
Finance chiefs’ overall level of confidence in current and future business conditions edged up in the third quarter, coming in at 5.7. That puts it solidly in medium territory. The previous quarter, the score stood at 5.4. A year ago, it was at 5.

Assessment of regional economies
CFOs appear to be on the fence about the current status of the North American economy. Only 20% of the respondents think the region’s present economy is very good or good. Only 8% think it's very bad or bad. The rest? Neutral.

Own-company prospects and growth metrics
CFO enthusiasm about future business conditions in North America could best be described as tepid. The same sentiment does not apply to their expectations for their own organizations. Ninety percent of finance chiefs say their companies’ financial prospects are much better or better than they were three months ago. In Q2, that number was 48%.

Risk appetite
CFOs remained risk averse in the third quarter. Only 36% of respondents think now is a good time to be taking on greater risk. That’s only slightly above the reading last quarter—and on par with the two-year average of 39%.

Biggest internal and external risks
Cybersecurity, inflation, and interest rates topped the list (50%) of CFOs’ most worrying external risks this quarter. Talent (hiring, retention, or skills gap) was the most cited internal risk (51%), followed by efficiency and productivity (50%).

Capital markets in the latest quarter
Although the Fed has held steady on interest rates, CFOs’ increasingly see borrowing as a favorable way to raise funds. Well over half (53%) of respondents said debt financing is attractive—a considerable hike from the responses (18%) just a year ago.