NFIB confidence index improves, but still low

“The president will address the state of our nation tonight, but he apparently won’t have much that’s positive to relay to our small-business community — not while the pall of uncertainty over economic policy continues to depress investment spending and growth,” he added.

{mosads}The index comes as Washington is knee-deep in another fiscal battle, with $85 billion in automatic sequester cuts set to go into effect in a little over two weeks. 

Senate Democrats are currently working on a package of cuts and revenue increases to roll back the sequester. House Republicans – who passed two sequester replacement measures that expired at the start of the new Congress – have said they are waiting on the Senate and the White House.

According to the NFIB index, small-business owners remain overwhelmingly pessimistic about future business conditions, even with a slight improvement over the previous month. 

Owners are also reporting declining sales and reduced inventories, the index found.