The surge in confidence in the US among consumers, producers and homebuilders has spread to small business owners.
In December the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) index, which measures small business optimism, rocketed to its highest level since 2004, with, what the NFIB called a "stratospheric 38-point jump in the number of owners who expect better business conditions" Confidence among small business owners had suffered in the run-up to the presidential elections and has been in the doldrums since the 2007-2008 Great Financial Crisis. This data reinforces the impression that in the last two months there has been a major shift in confidence within the US economy. Animal spirits in the US economy have been awoken.
Read more here about the upsurge in consumer and business confidence in the US.
