Investing.com - The National Federation of Independent Business index of small business optimism fell unexpectedly in September, dampening optimism over the health of the economy, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, National Federation of Independent Business said that NFIB Small Business Optimism declined to 95.3 last month from 96.1 in August. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 97.2 in September.
Four Index components improved, six declined. Two declined by 10 points total, accounting for the entire decline in the Index score. Unfortunately, the two that fell drastically were job openings and planned capital outlays, which are directly relevant to GDP growth and hiring.
“A decline in job openings and capital spending plans were primarily responsible for September’s Index decline. Overall, small business owners are still stuck in a rut that has been difficult to escape,” said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.2655 following the release of the data, while GBP/USD was at 1.5930.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity markets pointed to a higher open. The Dow 30 indicated a gain of 0.15%, the S&P 500 pointed to a rise of 0.2%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 indicated an increase of 0.2%.