Small business optimism jumps to highest level since 2021: NFIB

Small business optimism jumped in November, reaching its highest level since 2021, on President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection, according to the latest data from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). NFIB Research Center executive director Holly Wade joins Wealth! Host Brad Smith to discuss the data and what it signals about small businesses’ expectation under Trump’s second term.

“Last month, we saw a huge surge in our index looking at small business optimism. The biggest contributor to that was the general business conditions. Far more small business owners were saying that they anticipate business conditions improving over the next six months, but also increased spending [and] increased sales at their business,” Wade tells the Wealth! team.

She adds, “Small business owners [are] eager to see a dramatic change or shift in priorities on economic policy and so they have a lot of expectations going into 2025 on what that looks like for them as far as tax policy and also the regulatory environment.”

Watch the video above to learn more about small business sentiment.

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This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.