US small business confidence continues to rise in June, slightly above

The United States’ small business confidence continued to improve in June for the third straight month as sales trends improved, though growing difficulties in finding qualified workers and trepidation over the economy and US presidential election continued to keep a lid on sentiment.

The National Federation of Independent Business' small-business optimism index edged up to 94.5 last month from 93.8 in May. The modest improvement was unexpected; economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected the gauge to hold steady at May's level. The survey is based on a population strength of 735 people.

As sales picked up, some 56 percent of small-business owners said they hired or tried to hire last month, but most of them, 86 percent reported few or no qualified workers for the positions they were trying to fill. That translates to 29 percent of all owners with job openings they deem hard to fill, up from May and marking the highest level of the seven-year economic expansion.

"Small-business owners appear to be on the same track they have followed for the past few years, maintenance mode, but not much growth," said William Dunkelberg, Chief Economist, NFIB.

Meanwhile, small businesses said they plan to spend more on capital investments, with more than a quarter signaling so in June, though more than half continued to say it wasn't a good time to expand. Of that share, 47 percent cited the economy and 30 percent cited the political climate.