The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has released its small business optimism index for the month of December. It shows a rise to 93.9 from 92.5 in November, and up from 91.6 in October. Even with the rise in optimism, the report is one that is considered to be pessimistic regarding the small business economy.
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The reason for this pessimism is that recovery averages are supposed to be well above 100 for a positive climate.
There are some positives. Sales are expected to gain faster than inflation, with a five-point rise to 8%. Business owners also expect conditions to improve in the coming months, with the reading rising nine points to -11%. These two components seem to have been responsible for all the index gains in December.
Capital spending is on the rise as the capital outlays rose two points to 26%. The “good time to expand” index rose by a point to 10%. Hiring was up by an average of 0.24 workers per small firm in the past three months. Unfortunately, the “looking to create new jobs” component also fell as positions were filled, dropping one point to 8%.
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