American small business confidence tumbles to two-year minimum

In January, American small business optimism inched down to its lowest value since Donald Trump's election over two years ago against the backdrop of soaring uncertainty over the economic outlook.

On Tuesday, the National Federation of Independent Business uncovered that last month its Small Business Optimism Index headed south by 3.2 points ending up with 101.2. It appears to be the weakest outcome since November 2016.

The index managed to rally after Trump's electoral win, spurred by his administration's $1.5 trillion tax trim package as well as deregulation policy. It has slumped for five months in a row since reaching an all-time maximum last August, although it’s still high by historic standards.

Apparently, the index mirrored other confidence polls that weakened steeply in January.

As some financial analysts pointed out, they’re assured that the evident boost to the survey data from increased partisanship since the 2016 election campaign is beginning to fade away.

The National Federation of Independent Business added that its uncertainty index managed to head north by 7 points hitting 86 in January, which appears to be the fifth highest outcome in the poll’s 45-year history. The jump in uncertainty actually concurred with the longest shutdown of the US federal government in history.

The 35-day shutdown concluded on January 25 after US leader and the US legislative body made up their mind to temporarily finance the country’s government, without funds for his US-Mexico border wall.

In addition to this, the NFIB stressed that there’s more buzz about recession challenges. The organization added that small business owners are concerned about future sales surge, some weakness in business conditions later in 2019, not to mention some deterioration in conditions.

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