People make their way down a local street of Chinatown in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., March 25, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Aug 9 (Reuters) – U.S. small business confidence rose in July as fuel prices fell and job openings became a little easier to fill, but inflation worries rose, a survey showed on Tuesday .
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its Small Business Optimism Index rose four-tenths of a point last month to 89.9, the first monthly increase since December. Still, the level is still well below the 48-year average of 98. About 37% of owners reported inflation as their most important problem, the highest level since the fourth quarter of 1979.
Soaring inflation has forced the Federal Reserve to raise rates sharply this year in an effort to slow the economy without causing it to retreat.
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But apart from the sharp slowdown in the housing market, the impact on the economy and price pressures was hard to see. US job growth unexpectedly accelerated in July, and economists polled by Reuters estimate that consumer prices rose 8. To see also : Biden returns from Middle East trip with narrowing window to political victory ahead of November.7% last month from a year earlier.
That would be down from the 9.1% annual rise in June but still well above the Fed’s 2% target. The US central bank is widely expected to continue raising interest rates more this year, increasing the risk of a recession.
The NFIB survey showed that 49% of owners had job openings they could not fill last month, down 1 percentage point from June, while labor quality remained second only to inflation as a concern, with 21% ranking it as their main business problem. , down 2 points from June.
Meanwhile the survey’s uncertainty index jumped to its highest level since April.
“Uncertainty in the small business sector is rising again as owners continue to manage historic inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions,” said William Dunkelberg, NFIB’s chief economist.
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Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Paul Simao Read also : This Fourth of July, Aim to Be Free from Food Waste.
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