US small business optimism drops as policy changes dampen outlook
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Tuesday 08 Apr 2025
(Sharecast News) - Optimism levels among small businesses in the United States dropped to a five-month low in March, as Washington's new trade policies clouded the sales outlook for firms.
The small business optimism index from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) fell by 3.3 points to 97.4 last month.
This was below the 51-year average of 98 and the lowest print since October.
A net 21% of business owners said they expected better business conditions, down from 37% in February, marking the largest monthly decline since December 2020.
The proportion citing taxes as their top business issue rose two points to 18%, its highest level in more than three years, while 16% said inflation was their single most important problem, unchanged from February.
Just 3% of firms (on a net basis) said they expect real sales volumes to increase, down 11 points over the month, marking the third straight monthly fall in this measure.
"The implementation of new policy priorities has heightened the level of uncertainty among small business owners over the past few months." said Bill Dunkelberg, the NFIB's chief economist.
"Small business owners have scaled back expectations on sales growth as they better understand how these rearrangements might impact them."
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