A national index measuring small business optimism took a 3.2 point drop in June after making modest gains for several months, raising concerns of a pullback in an already sluggish economic recovery.
The index by the National Federal of Independent Businesses – based on 805 responses to a random survey of members – fell to 89 in June.
The net percent of all owners who reported higher nominal sales in the past three months lost four points, falling to a net negative 15 percent – 19 points better than June 2009, but still far more firms reporting negative sales trends on a quarter-to-quarter basis than those reporting positive trends.
The net percent of owners expecting real sales gains lost 10 points, falling to a net negative five percent of all owners.
“The percent of owners planning to make capital expenditures over the next few months fell a point to 19 percent, three points above the 35 year record low,” the NFIB reported.
Nine percent of respondents reported unfilled job openings, unchanged from May and historically very weak.
Over the next three, months, eight percent of business owners surveyed plan to reduce employment (up one point), and 10 percent plan to create new jobs (down four points).
That comes to a seasonally adjusted net 1 percent of owners planning to create new jobs, unchanged from May reading, and positive for only the second time in 20 months.
Since the third quarter of 2009, job creation plans have underperformed the recoveries from the other two deep recessions, according to the NFIB’s records.
