Small business owners remain optimistic about the economy despite inflation concerns

It seems like every time we hear about retail businesses these days, it’s in the context of how they’re being impacted by rising costs and inflation.

But there’s a certain sector of the retail community—small business owners—who seem to be surprisingly upbeat. The CNBC SurveyMonkey Small Business Confidence Index is at its highest point since President Biden took office.

The survey, conducted between January 22 and February 1, included more than 3,000 small business owners in the US aged 18 and up, and turned up some interesting findings.

Although there continued to be concerns around inflation, about 35% of business owners said they were confident in the Federal Reserve’s ability to control inflation, while 29% said inflation had reached a peak.

Many respondents also seemed pretty optimistic about the economy in general: 28% said the current state of the economy was “excellent” or “good,” a 5% bump from the last quarter and an 18% YoY increase.

“We’re kind of seeing a potential turn around the corner in terms of small business optimism,” Sam Gutierrez, senior research scientist at SurveyMonkey, told CNBC.

The survey found that for 60% of SBOs, inflation and interest rates as well as economic growth are the most important issues when it comes to their 2024 election choices, followed by tax policy (51%).

We’ll be watching to see how the confidence numbers unfold, but for now, we’re just happy to see small businesses feeling good.