US small-business confidence rises in August

U.S. small business confidence rose modestly in August, suggesting the economy continued to grow at a steady clip halfway through the third quarter.

According to Reuters, the National Federation of Independent Business indicated last week its small-business optimism index gained half a point to 95.9 last month.

The survey of 656 businesses were not impacted much by recent global financial market sways, largely because the interviews were completed before the big slide.

Survey respondents said they were slightly optimistic about sales, but they did not believe it was a good time to expand. They were largely pessimistic about business conditions during the next six months.

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