Today, Bank of America Merrill Lynch released the results of its "2015 CFO Outlook" study. Now in its 17th year, the survey gathered responses from 602 CFOs and other finance executives in U.S.-based midmarket companies, with between $25 million and $2 billion in annual revenue. And it found more optimism this fall than at any other time since the start of the financial crisis.

"Without any question, this is an optimistic report," says Alastair Borthwick, head of global commercial banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "We haven't seen anything like this in seven years. It's a positive view with respect to sales, the economy, growth plans, margins, and employment."

The survey asks finance executives to rate their outlook on the U.S. and global economies on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing "extremely weak" and 100 representing "extremely strong." Last year, when the U.S. economy received a rating of 53, it was the first time since 2008 that the U.S. economy received an overall positive outlook (a score above 50). This year, the U.S. economy jumped another six points to 59. Respondents' perspective on the global economy also improved, but slightly, from 50 in last year's survey to 51 this year. (See Figure 1, below.)