The survey, based on responses from 100 employers in the sector collected between 20 August and 3 September 2008, reports that the balance of business confidence among employers in the sector ran at -59% over the three months to September 2008. This is down on the balance of -57% recorded in the previous rolling quarter.

And nearly all surveyed organisations (99%) believe the current squeeze on credit will endure for longer than six months. 

This is a view shared by CBI deputy director John Cridland, who comments (external website) that:

The survey paints an increasingly bleak picture of the sector, but the dramatic turbulence across the world of finance over the past fortnight, and the renewed paralysis in interbank markets, will only have depressed market confidence even further.

The survey is complemented by today's news (external website) regarding the nationalisation of Bradford and Bingley. I'm sure the finance sector will be hoping that, just this once, bad news doesn't come in threes...