The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday its headline index eased to 97.9 in September, a 0.8-point slide that put sentiment at a three-month low. Under the hood, six of the ten tracked categories deteriorated, three improved, one was unchanged, and the group's uncertainty reading also ticked up.
Small-business sentiment leads hiring and capital spending. Market Briefs covers that data free every morning.
Stubborn price pressures continue to dog owners as energy costs stay elevated amid the wars in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Last month, 20% of respondents named inflation as their most serious problem, close to triple the long-run average of 7%.
Labor remains a sticking point too. Twenty-six percent of firms, up 3 points from August, said the quality or availability of workers was their single biggest challenge.
Hopes for better business conditions faded: the net share expecting improvement fell by 4 percentage points to 6%, the lowest since May. Pricing plans remain solid: a net 31% plan to lift their own prices in the coming three months, compared with 28% in August and 28% in July. With inflation still tough and borrowing costs high, owners dialed back ambitions to expand, and capital spending plans slipped to a three-month low.
"Small-business owners are proceeding with caution as they interpret how rising costs, interest rates, and the difficulty in finding qualified employees are impacting their business," NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said.
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