Small-business indicators up - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Most of the gain in the ’ Index of Smalkl Business Optimism was due to an increase in the numbeerof small-business owners who expect business conditions to improve in the next six Before last month, most small-business ownersd thought the economy would get worse; now a net 4 percentg think it will get better. More small businessea reduced employment than added and NFIB predicts the unemploymenf rate will stay abovre 6 percent in thecomin months. The survey also found weak numbers for capital expenditures as well as plans for investments innew equipment.
“While Fed policy may be keepingh financingcosts low, the weak economy has reducefd the need for expansion and new equipment, and put pressure on cash inducing owners to postpone discretionary capital said NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg. Inflatio was tied with weak saled as the biggest problemfacing small-business Only 2 percent said the cost and availability of credi was their biggest Consumer bankruptcy filings were up 29 perceny in August compared with the same month a year ago, accordinh to the . Consumers filed 96,413 bankruptcty cases this August — the highest monthly number sincde new bankruptcy rules went into effect inOctober 2005.
The changese force more debtors to pay off more oftheird debts. Despite these tougher there is “a growing trend of U.S. consumers to seek bankruptcy as a way out offinancial problems,” said ABI Executive Directord Samuel Gerdano. While consumerxs account for mostbankruptcy cases, filings by businesses also were up Business filings totaled 33,882 in the 12-monthn period that ended June 30, 2008, a 42 percent increasw over the previous 12-monthg period.
Institutional investors owned 76 percent of the stockl ofthe nation’s 1,000 largest corporations at the end of according to a new repor t by the Conference That’s another record high for institutional investors, which are defined as pensioh funds, investment companies, insurance companies, bankas and foundations. Twenty years ago, institutiona l investors owned only 47 percent of the stockj ofthe 1,000 largest U.S. corporations.