The February NFIB Small Business Optimism report was released today, March 10, 2020. The headline of the Economic Trends report is “Small Business Owners Remained Optimistic in February.”
The Index of Small Business Optimism increased by .2 points to 104.5.
Here is an excerpt that I find particularly notable (but don’t necessarily agree with):
“The small business economic expansion continued its historic run in February, as owners remained focused on growing their businesses in this supportive tax and regulatory environment,” said NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg. “February was another historically strong month for the small business economy, but it’s worth noting that nearly all of the survey’s responses were collected prior to the recent escalation of the coronavirus outbreak and the Federal Reserve rate cut. Business is good, but the coronavirus outbreak remains the big unknown.”
Here is a chart of the NFIB Small Business Optimism chart, as seen in the March 10 post on the Doug Short site titled “NFIB Small Business Survey…“:
Further details regarding small business conditions can be seen in the full February 2020 NFIB Small Business Economic Trends (pdf) report.
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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation
SPX at 2882.23 as this post is written