Small-business sentiment slumps to 7-month low in November

The National Federation of Independent Business small-business optimism index fell 2.6 points in November to a seasonally adjusted level of 104.8, the lowest in seven months. Most of the decline coming from expectations about future sales and business conditions.What happened: No components of the index gained during the month, and only two were flat. Still, NFIB, a lobby group for small-business owners, pointed to an “exceptionally strong two-year trend” for the sentiment tracker. The November decline was the third in a row. NFIB has been happy with the lower tax rates and regulatory roll-backs of the Trump administration. But now, small businesses are struggling just as much as the rest of the economy to find enough labor. A record number of respondents, a net 25%, called the scarcity of "qualified” workers their top business concern. And more than one-third of owners said they had job openings they could not fill. A net 25% of respondents said they plan to raise compensation, the highest since 1989.