Confidence in the U.S. economy is picking up as business conditions improve and profits continue to rise at a majority of large companies, a new survey of corporate leaders found.

But the executives were less forthcoming on plans for hiring or spending their profits, two factors of significance for sustaining economic growth.

Nearly 85 percent of 76 chief executives polled by the Business Council and the Conference Board said they expected their companies to post higher profits over the next year, driven by increased revenue rather than cost-cutting, with 22 percent expecting the increase to be substantial. And they said business conditions in the economy today were the same or better than they were six months ago.

The Business Council is an invitation-only group of CEOs from Fortune 500 companies. The results were released before two days of closed-door meetings at Boca Raton resort.

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