"In , we saw cautious optimism after the resolution of the debt ceiling political crisis," says Frank Schools, a Tatum partner based in Irvine, Calif., "but now the mood has definitely soured as our respondents continue to experience negative trends in recent results."

Besides capital availability, the survey breaks down experience and expectations about order backlogs, employment, and capital spending. In those areas, however, responses seem less definitive.

There were marginal increases in the number of executives whose company backlogs increased in September (25%) and those who said they had shrunk (20%.) But in terms of 60-day expectations, 21% saw future backlogs worsening, compared to 7% in the August survey. Still, 31% expected backlog improvement, although that was down from the prior month's 38%.

The number of executives who had done less hiring in the past month rose to 16% from 10%. But signals were mixed for the future, with 27% saying they expect to increase hiring, up from 20% in August, while the number expect hiring to worsen climbed to 18% from 12%.