Small business optimism was nearly flat in July, with the index of small business optimism creeping to 94.6 from 94.5 in June, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.
"Small business optimism was pretty much unchanged during the month of July, and small businesses continue to be in maintenance mode," said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. "Uncertainty is high, expectations for better business conditions are low, and future business investments look weak. Our data indicates that there is little hope for a surge in the small business sector anytime soon."
The 42-year average of the monthly index is 98.
Four of index's 10 components rose, four fell, with two unchanged.
"The outlook for business conditions in the next six months continued to improve, gaining 16 percentage points since January, but still more owners still expect conditions to be worse than expect improvement," NFIB said in a release.
