The report, conducted on behalf of NYSE Euronext by Opinion Research Corporation, showed that 94 percent of U.S. CEOs and 79 percent of non-U.S. CEOs believe changes to the American legal system to lower litigation risks would increase the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets.

Eighty-eight percent of CEOs would consider the streamlining of the U.S. regulatory system and the easing of certain governance rules and regulations as positive moves, the survey said.

CEOs also said they expect the global trade environment to have a favorable impact on their businesses in the near future.

While the U.S. continues to be seen as the most crucial market for doing business, China and Western Europe are also regarded as important regions. And the emerging economies of India and Eastern Europe are increasingly important as possible locations to set up operations, the study found.

Moving operations offshore is also being cited as a successful business strategy, with 47 percent of NYSE CEOs indicating that their company has moved operations offshore at some time.

Overall, CEOs said an organization's ability to conduct business globally will be vital to its success in 2008 and beyond. Nearly half of the CEOs (48 percent) cited global trade as having a favorable affect on their organizations, signaling more optimism in the C-suite's outlook on the global trade environment, compared with 38 percent in the 2007 report.

"Global expansion is no longer just the domain of a few forward thinking CEOs. For today's leaders, the question is not whether to expand globally, but rather which markets to focus on," said Jeff Resnick, President of Opinion Research USA. "It is clear from this year's survey that globalization is now part of the fabric of decisions concerning market extension, operations, growth and profit."

Despite current market woes, U.S-based CEOs also demonstrated great optimism about the U.S. economy.

The third annual survey of CEOs of NYSE-listed companies was conducted from February 22 through March 28, 2007. Seventy-eight percent of the CEOs surveyed are U.S. based and 22 percent are from non-U.S. companies. There was a margin of error of six percent.