NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. chief executives' confidence in the economy edged up in the fourth quarter of last year, but not enough to fuel a pickup in growth or create jobs, a private business research group said Monday.

The Conference Board said its measure of business confidence rose to 58 in the fourth quarter of 2002 from 54 in the third quarter. While any reading above 50 suggests more positive than negative responses, the New York-based group cautioned the slight rise did not signal an imminent surge in growth.

"The level of optimism does not suggest a dramatic acceleration in economic growth during the first half of 2003," Lynn Franco, director of the group's consumer research center, said in a statement.

Still, the rise in CEO confidence coincided with some signs of stabilization in the economy and an aggressive half-percentage point interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve in November to help the economy through what it called a "soft spot."

The survey also found many CEOs expect to raise selling prices for the goods and services they produce, but on average by a very modest amount -- 1.3 percent. Twenty percent expect more price-cutting and 31 percent see no change in prices.

"What we're seeing is that price increases are not being passed on to the consumer. So again, companies are having to find other ways to raise the bottom line" and that means they are still cutting costs, Franco told Reuters.

U.S. companies cut 101,000 workers from their payrolls in December, government data showed Friday.

"What we're seeing is more that speaks toward a jobless recovery," said Franco.

The Conference Board usually surveys about 100 member companies ranging from large to small to compile the quarterly index.