Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Discover(R) Small Business WatchSM:Small Business Economic Confidence Falls Sharply

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RIVERWOODS, Ill., Sep 29, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Economic confidence among small business owners declined sharply in September amid rising concerns about economic conditions for their businesses and a bleak vision of where the economy is headed. The Discover(R) Small Business WatchSM fell to 74.6 in September, down 12.3 points from August.

"Even though we had two months of rising confidence, this month's drop isn't surprising given the constant stream of uninspiring news about the housing and lending markets, as well as the turmoil on Wall Street," said Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card. "But when you look closer at the numbers, cash flow issues are steady and there is little change in their intentions for business development spending."

"The real mover of this month's confidence level is the overall sense that the economy is getting worse," Scully said. "That number dropped 13 percentage points, and the number of those who think the economy is getting better hit an all-time low of only 7 percent."

September Key Findings:

-- 42 percent of small business owners say they have experienced cash flow issues over the last 90 days, unchanged from August.

-- 51 percent believe economic conditions for their businesses are getting worse, up from 44 percent in August.

-- The number of small business owners who think the U.S. economy is getting worse rose to 73 percent from 60 percent in August; only 7 percent of small business owners feel the economy is getting better, the lowest rating in the Watch's history.

-- 57 percent rate the economy as poor, up from 51 percent in August; 32 percent rated it fair, 10 percent rated it good and 1 percent rated it excellent.

-- 28 percent plan to increase spending on business development over the next six months, which is unchanged from August; 44 percent plan to decrease spending and 26 percent anticipate making no changes.

News Source : http://www.marketwatch.com/

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