Business Confidence is making a comeback – forecasts, indexes

Confidence among U.S. small-business owners improved in the month of May, even though inflation returned to be their top operational concern, followed by labor quality. The National Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that its small-business optimism index increased to 89.4 in May from 89.0 in April, well below the index long-term average. Still, the reading came ahead of the 88.7 consensus forecast from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. The NFIB survey provides a monthly snapshot of small businesses in the U.S., which account for nearly half of private sector jobs.