The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) released its Small Business Optimism Index for November.  Unfortunately, things continue to be tough.  There was a drop of 0.8 to 88.3, which is the six-consecutive month that the index has been below 90.  Interestingly enough, this is worse than the performance after the recovery from the 1980-1982 recession. 

A big reason for the sluggishness is lackluster consumer spending.  As a result, small business owners are fairly restrained in terms of inventory investment and hiring.