Small business optimism ticks higher in November
|Summary
The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index surprised to the upside and edged up to 99 in November. The monthly gain largely was the result of an increase in the share of small firms reporting stronger sales expectations and a rise in hiring intentions. Cost pressures are still evident, with a sharp increase in businesses reporting that they recently raised selling prices and are planning to raise compensation.
We note that this month's survey looks to be surrounded by an extra degree of noise on account of an unusually low count of responses, a disproportionate share of which were from businesses with fewer than 10 employees and in the service and retail industries.
That noted, the overall gain in small business sentiment is consistent with our view that economic activity is still expanding, a modest amount of price pressure is still making its way through supply chains and the labor market has neither improved nor deteriorated meaningfully in recent months.
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