August 16

8/16 – Confidence is starting to crumble as vaccines have hit a resistance wall and Covid Delta variant cases soar. According to a survey of 560 small businesses by the Wall Street Journal and Vistage Worldwide, only 39% of small-business owners now expect U.S. economic conditions to improve in the next 12 months, down from 50% in July and 67% in March. Twenty percent expect economic conditions to worsen, up from 15% a month ago, and 41% are undecided. Economists have consumer reactions to Delta under a microscope. With government stimulus checks and PPP loans in the rearview mirror, unsupported consumer spending will make or break the recovery over the next six months. The good news is that, following the timing of what happened in India and the UK, scientists are projecting that the Delta variant should run its course and burn itself out by late September.