US Small Business Price-Hike Plans Hit 34% as Optimism Falls to 95.3
Updated
Updated · Reuters · Jun 9
US Small Business Price-Hike Plans Hit 34% as Optimism Falls to 95.3
3 articles · Updated · Reuters · Jun 9
Summary
NFIB's Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.6 point to 95.3 in May, slipping further below its 52-year average and marking the weakest reading since October 2024.
Price pressures drove the drop: 34% of owners plan to raise prices in the next three months—the highest since July 2022—while 36% already raised prices, up six points from April.
Uncertainty also worsened, with the NFIB index rising to 91 as the group linked anxiety to the four-month U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and its effect on oil and commodity costs through the Strait of Hormuz.
Hiring plans softened at the same time, with the share of owners planning new jobs dropping four points to 9%, the lowest since May 2020, even as labor shortages persisted in agriculture and wholesale trade.
The survey points to sticky inflation ahead of Wednesday's CPI report, where economists expect annual consumer prices to accelerate to 4.2% in May from 3.8% in April.