Chris Holman welcomes back Kurt J. Rankin vice president and senior economist for The PNC Financial Services Group, Pittsburgh, PA, to discuss the CPI report.

Watch Kurt and Chris discuss economic factors and where businesses see things at this point in early 2024 with optimism, in the YouTube video shared below: 

In their conversation, Chris looked to find out several things from Kurt;

PNC’s latest semi-annual survey of small- and mid-sized businesses, which concluded Feb. 2, results are out, tell us about them?

Drill down on optimism for next 6 months?

So that optimism is for the overall economy and their own businesses?

How about profits?

PNC’s latest semi-annual survey of small- and mid-sized businesses, which concluded Feb. 2, shows that business owner optimism about economic conditions over the next six months has reached a 22-year high amid lessening fears of a recession.  

Top-Level Findings

PNC’s latest semi-annual survey of small and mid-sized businesses shows that business owner optimism about economic conditions over the next six months has reached a 22-year high amid lessening fears of a recession.

A majority of those surveyed (55%) are highly optimistic about the national economy, rocketing up from 34% last fall and 26% a year ago. Four in 10 (40%) are highly optimistic about the global economy, up from 25% last fall and 9% a year ago. Nearly two-thirds of business owners (63%) are highly optimistic about their local economy, up from 47% last fall and 30% a year ago.

Optimism also runs high about their own businesses.  Eight in 10 business owners (79%) reported that they are highly optimistic about the prospects for their own business, consistent with last fall (77%) and up substantially from a year ago (60%). Manufacturing led other sectors, with 81% anticipating better times ahead for their own businesses. Larger revenue ($20 million to $250 million) business leaders expressed the most optimism about the national and local economies as well as their own businesses, while smaller revenue ($100,000 to $3 million) business owners are the least optimistic.

The outlook on profits for the next six months remains steady, with just over half of those surveyed (52%) expecting an increase, midway between the levels recorded last fall (55%) and a year ago (49%). Few businesses anticipate decreases in profits (5%) or sales (5%) over the same time period. 

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