We’ve been conducting the PNC Economic Outlook study among small and mid-sized business owners/leaders for 23 years. The insights are fascinating and point to both our current economic moment and where the market may be headed.
This fall’s wave found, despite concerns over inflation, supplier price increases and recent declining demand and profit expectations, a survey record-high share of business owners (84%) optimistic about the prospects for their own business.
This shows an upward trend from the spring (78%) and last fall (76%).
PNC Chief Economist Gus Faucher noted “risks to the economy are elevated, coming from tariffs and the uncertainty surrounding them, weaker job gains, and high interest rates. PNC expects continued economic growth over the next year, but at a slower pace, with higher inflation.”
As we stated in the spring, we attribute this continued business owner optimism in the face of many large concerns to post-pandemic resilience.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
