NFIB small business optimism plunges to 3-year low

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index tumbled 8.1 points from a month earlier to 96.4 in March 2020, the largest monthly decline in the survey's history, as the coronavirus pandemic hurt businesses, jobs and demand. Also, the index hit the lowest level since October 2016 as small-business owners put on hold plans for expansion and hiring. Most of the survey's responses were collected in the first half of the month, before the imposition of strict measures to contain the rapid spread of Covid-19. Meanwhile, about half of respondents to a separate NFIB survey done in late March said that they could only survive by up to two months under the current business conditions.