Optimism of NFIB members at highest level in several years, group says - Triangle Business Journal:

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NFIB’s index of small business indicatorasrose 2.1 points in May to 88.9, following a 5.8 pointf jump in April. The index had plummetef to 81 in March, close to its recordd 1980 lowof 80.1. “Ift does appear that the decline in spending for inventoryg and capital projects has bottomed and will turn up in thecominf months,” said NFIB Chief Economistg William Dunkelberg. A net 12 percent of small-businessd owners expected general business conditions will be better six monthsafrom now, a gain of 10 percentage points from April. Except for September 2008, when 14 perceny expected the economyto improve, this is the highesft number for this indicator since 2005.
The currenty profit picture isstill dismal, however. A net 43 percent said their earnings were lower during the past quartef than they were in theprevious quarter. Abouft 16 percent of small-business owners reportedf that loans were harderto get, the highestf reading since the recession of the early But only 5 percent reportex that finance was their No. 1 business More small businesses plan to reducse employment rather than hiremore workers, but the rate of declinwe is slowing. The Conferencw Board, which tracks eight laboer market indicators, said its Employment Trends Index roseby 0.
2 percent in May, which is noteworthy because it’s the first increase in 16 “The moderation of the last two months is certainly a sign that the decline in job losse is real and signals that the wors t is over,” said Gad Levanon, the board’x senior economist. More than 14,00o businesses filed for bankruptcy protectiojn in the first quarterof 2009, a 64 percent increase over the same periofd a year earlier. The numbert of business filings was up 11 percent over the total for the fourth quarter of according tothe . Nearlyg 10,000 of the business filings in the first quarter were Chapter7 liquidations. Chapter 11 reorganizationss accountedfor 3,421 filings.
Overalkl bankruptcy filings, including personal bankruptcies, totalecd 330,447 in the first quarter of 2009, up nearlt 35 percent from the same periofd ayear earlier. For the 12-montyh period that ended March 31, more than 1.2 millio n bankruptcies were filed – the highest 12-month totapl since Congress tightened bankruptcy rules inOctobeer 2006. “As unemployment figures continue to rise and financingremains elusive, we expect filings to surge past 1.4 milliobn cases by year-end,” said Samuel Gerdano, executivd director of the .
Tennessee had the highest per-capitw rate of bankruptcy filings in thefirsrt quarter, followed by Nevada, Alabama, Georgia and Judicial districts with the highesft percentage increase in filings included the Central District of Delaware, Arizona, the Southern District of Nevada and the Eastern Distric t of California. The worst of timews for the economy may be the best of timesw to start anew business, according to a new studyh by the . The foundation found that more than half the businessezs onthis year’s Fortune 500 list of the largesty U.S. companies were founded during a recession or a bear markefor stocks. Nearly half of Inc.
magazine’s 2008 list of the 500 fastest-growinf companies were founded during theseslow periods. The studhy also found job creation by startups is less sensitiver to downturns than areother businesses. Rising unemployment actually may be good for becauseit “can free up pool of human capital,” according to the which was written by Dane a senior analyst at the “An unemployed individual, with some measure of may perceive a competitive opportunity to start a new and feel there’s nothing to lose,” the study states.