Chief marketing officers (CMOs) at leading US retailers are very optimistic about the US economy and their companies’ sales outlook for the coming year. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the marketing executives indicated they are more optimistic about the US economy than they were a year ago and more than three-Qs (78%) of the CMOs feel their companies’ sales performance in 2007 will be stronger than 2006. Overall, the retail CMOs predict an average year over year sales increase of 8.6% in 2007, BDO Seidman reports.