YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Survey: Small business owners still pessimistic

    Survey: Small business owners still pessimistic, worried about the economy and their sales

    NEW YORK (AP) -- Small business owners are starting 2013 with low expectations for the economy and their companies.

    That's the finding of a survey released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business. The lobbying group's Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.9 points to 88.9 in January, but remains at a level that points to continuing pessimism among business owners. The survey questioned more than 2,000 NFIB members.

    The NFIB's chief economist, William Dunkelberg, noted that the survey was taken after the government reported that the economy contracted during the fourth quarter. Uncertainty about the economy has kept many small business owners from hiring, borrowing and expanding over the past year.

    Owners are worried about their companies. Nineteen percent of the survey participants said weak sales are their biggest problem.

    Loading...
    • 10 gut-wrenching images from the devastating Oklahoma tornado

      Entire neighborhoods and two elementary schools were obliterated

    • Why We Can't Forget That Oklahoma's Senators Voted Against Sandy Relief

      Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted against H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.

    • With the Xbox One, Microsoft’s vision for conquering the living room takes shape

      It’s taken a while, but Microsoft’s big plan for conquering consumers’ living rooms is now finally coming together. For years, major tech companies have been obsessed with getting their software and applications onto television screens and have mostly employed a series of set-top boxes that have done little to spark consumer interest. But unlike Apple and Google, Microsoft has always had a secret weapon that it’s been waiting to deploy to make sure that its software becomes entrenched on users’ television sets: Namely, the Xbox. For years now the Xbox has been the MVP of Microsoft’s consumer electronics division. While the company has badly lagged behind in both the smartphone and tablet realms, it has stayed strong in the gaming

    • Boyfriend espaces out window as husband confronts cheating wife [VIDEO]

      As part of perhaps the most spectacular walk-of-shame ever, an underwear-clad lover escaped from a third floor bedroom as the returning husband confronted his cheating wife on a balcony.

    • Dog found, on live TV, in tornado rubble

      Amid the devastation of Moore, Okla., TV viewers of a CBS affiliate were able to witness a woman's prayers answered.

    • BREAKING: Subway Just as Unhealthy as McDonald’s!

      If you watched the London Olympics last summer, you saw a parade of top athletes touting the nutritional qualities of their favorite eatery: Subway. Watching Apolo Ohno or Robert Griffin III bite into a veggie footlong with avocado or hearing that Subway is “the official training restaurant of athletes everywhere,” you might get the idea that the food served at the chain isn’t that bad for you—that it’s even healthy.

    • Kids rescued from rubble at Okla. elementary

      MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Several children have been pulled out of the rubble alive at a school in an Oklahoma City suburb.

    Follow Yahoo! News

    Loading...