Afam Elue Says U.S. Small Business Confidence On The Upswing

A leading business professional Afam Elue, has said that the confidence in small business has increased in recent months.

Afam Elue, a leading business expert has looked at how the small business world has changed over the past few months and has reported how the confidence has increased.

Showing a remarkable resilience, the confidence expressed by U.S. small businesses rebounded quickly in May after hitting a two-year low in April, 2016.  The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) announced on May 10 that its small business optimism index jumped a full point to 93.6 from April’s low of 92.6, the first increase in the index in 2016.

Positive economic news, expected economic growth in 2016, and a growing labor market all had a positive impact on the NFIB’s optimism index.  The increase is consistent with expectations that the economy will continue to pick up speed throughout the remainder of the second quarter of 2016.

Five of the ten indicators of the NFIB index rose last month while four remained unchanged and one declined.  The indicators with the strongest positive changes were:

·       Labor market measures with the number of small businesses reporting hiring rising five points to 53%

·       Job creation specifically in the construction, manufacturing and professional services industries

·       An increase in small business sales

·       Increase in inventory levels

While the U.S. economy’s fundamentals are solid and growth in 2016 is expected to rise to 2.5 percent, the president of the Chicago Fed, Charles Evans, told a London conference that business investment and inflation remain lower than he would like.  The Federal Reserve’s current wait and see approach to monetary policy is appropriate at the present although an interest rate hike is expected after the November presidential election.  

While still far below its 42-year average of 98, the NFIB’s small optimism index is expected to continue trending upward over the coming months as small businesses expect to see increasing demand and sales growth.

Afam Elue said: “It is nice to see that the small business market is now gaining confidence again, which can only be good for the economy as well as reducing the unemployment rate in the USA.”

For more information about Afam Elue, please visit http://afamelue.com

About Afam Elue
Afam Elue is a Business Director at The Fugleman Group. He was educated at Harvard University and is a keen fan of martial arts.