If you run a small business, chances are you don’t have time to daily tune into CNBC and watch the screaming heads shouting back and forth over the state of the economy. Here’s the brief version:
Screaming head 1: “Falling prices at the gas pump are like tax breaks for the average consumer.”
Screaming head 2: “Yes, but, falling prices at the gas pump mean people won’t purchase fuel-efficient cars. And the oil stocks are taking a hit.”
And so it goes.
Because daily (and moment-by-moment) business news is primarily aimed at investors, the ups and downs of such data apparently are important to some people. And, based on the way economic data is covered, apparently it’s critical for every news item to be both good and bad.
But for small business owners, the daily movements of economic data mean little, especially when delivered in studio shouting matches.
Small business owners don’t need data from Washington and New York to know how their personal economy is holding up. They know that it means something bad when the phone stops ringing or when people stop coming into the store. They know it means something good when the tips grow larger or desserts are purchased.
That said, most small business owners don’t mind hearing some good news about the economy every once in a while. Here are some hopeful data points of the past week. (We’re sure that economists abound who are willing to point out why each data point is not hopeful, but let’s turn them off for now.)
1. Industrial Output Surges
US Industrial Output Surges in September, Reversing Declines
(CNBC.com)
U.S. industrial production recorded its largest increase in seven months in September as utilities output surged after several months of decline.
2. Budget Deficit Narrows
(Photo: SmallBusiness.com)
Budget Deficit in U.S. Narrows to 5-Year Low on Record Revenue (Bloomberg.com)
The U.S. posted its smallest budget deficit in five years as employment gains helped propel revenue to a record. Spending exceeded receipts by $680.3 billion in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the narrowest gap since 2008, compared with a $1.09 trillion shortfall in fiscal 2012, the Treasury Department said today in Washington.
Oil End Month with 6 Percent Drop; Gas Down 12 Cents a Gallon (AP.com)
Oil fell for a third straight day Thursday, and finished October with a second consecutive monthly decline. Lower oil prices was one reason pump prices in the U.S. fell to their lowest level of the year this week.