Negative outlook

Confidence among U.S. small companies fell to a seven-month low in April, damped by a deteriorating outlook for the economy, a private survey showed.

The National Federation of Independent Business’s optimism index decreased to 91.2, the lowest since September, from 91.9 the prior month, the Washington-based group said today in a statement. Seven of the measure’s 10 components dropped.

Small-business owners are reluctant to ramp up hiring and investing until they see a pickup in demand, indicating bigger gains in employment will be difficult to achieve. The report also showed the share of survey participants who planned to raise prices held at the highest level in 30 months, and fewer owners predicted sales to rise after adjusting for inflation.

“Owners found no reason to be optimistic about the future and so no reason to pick up the pace of spending and hiring,” William Dunkelberg, the group’s chief economist, said in a statement. “Spending must recover here to get employment up and running.”

The group’s gauge of expectations for better business conditions six months from now dropped 3 points to a net minus 8 percent last month. A measure of whether small firms think this is a good time to expand fell 1 point to a net 4 percent.

The NFIB survey’s net figures are calculated by subtracting the percent of business owners giving a negative answer from those with a positive response, and adjusting the results for seasonal variations.

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