|
More slowing on Main St.
|
 |
December 15, 2000: 11:24 a.m. ET
Small businesses pulling back, survey finds; job market remains very tight
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Entrepreneurs trimmed corporate inventories in November and pulled back on price increases, but optimism about the future improved, a business group reported on Friday.
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
The data still point to an acceleration of inflation in 2000, but hint ever so tantalizingly at the possibility that the worst may be past.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
William Dunkelberg
NFIB economist |
|
"The small business sector is clearly slowing, but there are no signs of 'disorder' in the exiting," said William C. Dunkelberg, chief economist of the Washington, D.C.–based National Federation of Independent Business, who conducted the group's monthly survey. "This is good news for the Fed, which expressed its pleasure by hinting at rate cuts if things slowed too quickly."
Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan hinted last week that the central bank might ease credit if U.S. economic growth loses too much momentum. The Federal Open Market Committee meets again next Tuesday to consider interest-rate policy.
Price increase slow
Inflation appeared to cool on Main Street in November, with reports of price hikes slipping to 12 percent of survey respondents, down from the 13 percent average for the year. Dunkelberg said 552 companies responded to the survey.
"The data still point to an acceleration of inflation in 2000, but hint ever so tantalizingly at the possibility that the worst may be past," Dunkelberg said.
That is still ahead of the 2 percent of firms that raised prices in 1998 and the 5 percent that raised prices in 1999, but well below the "inflation days" of the 1970s, when more than 70 percent of small-business owners were reporting higher selling prices at times.
The job market remained very tight, with a record-matching 35 percent of Main Street employers complaining of jobs that are hard to fill. "The message in the November survey seemed to be, 'If we find a qualified employee, we'll hire 'em, but we don't expect to actually accomplish this," the economist said.
Even so, small-business optimism rose fractionally, with the number of firms expecting the economy to improve in the next three months climbing a point to minus 2 percent. That measure has been in negative territory most of the year, as entrepreneurs compared the outlook to strong current conditions. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
