Small Business Optimism Index Steady in August

The Small Business Optimism index slipped 0.1-point to 94.0 in August, the National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday.

Despite the overall index holding, job creation plans surged "to a level not seen since before the recession and sales expectations improved." Sales and profit trends declined, and expectations for improvement in general business conditions were "increasingly negative."

"August in Washington was typical - nothing got done, and therefore nothing changed the outlook of small-business owners who have the same list of concerns today that they had in January, April and July," said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg. "But we saw some interesting things happening with the Index this month. The August reading provided us with a rather perplexing set of statistics; internally consistent on some dimensions, such as lower sales bringing lower profits, but contradictory in other ways, such as lower job openings but huge gains in hiring plans. We know that the upcoming implementation deadlines for the healthcare law are weighing on the minds of employers, and the current dim prospects for real tax reform must be, as well."

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