- The National Federation of Independent Business's survey released Tuesday showed that
small business optimism slumped to 90.9 in April. The median economist estimate was for a drop to 83. - The survey's index of sales expectations posted the sharpest drop from March, slumping 30 points to negative 42, the lowest reading in 46 years.
- On the flip side, small business owners' expectations of the US
economy jumped 24 points in April, erasing all losses from March. - Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
US
Small business optimism slumped 5.5 points to 90.9 in April, according to the National Federation of Independent Business's survey released Tuesday, exceeding the median economist estimate of a sharper drop to 83, according to Bloomberg data. In March, the measure of optimism fell by the most ever, ending a record run.
"The impact from this pandemic, including government stay-at-home orders and mandated non-essential business closures, has had a devastating impact on the small business economy," said William Dunkelberg,
Owners expect that their sales will continue to slump, but expect that the US economy will rebound in the next six months, according to the survey.
The survey's index of sales expectations posted the sharpest drop from March, slumping 30 points to negative 42, the lowest reading in 46 years. On the flip side, small business owners' expectations of the US economy jumped 24 points in April, erasing all losses from March.
"Owners' optimism about future conditions indicates they expect the
"Presumably this divergence captures the idea that the overall economy can't get much worse, so the future has to be better than the past, but business owners remain very depressed about their own position," wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, in a Tuesday note.
In addition, the survey showed that small business hiring plans fell to an eight-year low, and plans to expand fell to the lowest in over a decade.
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