#business-confidence

#business-confidence

New data from Novuna Business Finance reveals the first green shoots of a potentially new upward trend in small business growth forecasts. Following a worrying 18-month period since mid-2024, when the percentage of small businesses predicting growth fell for five-consecutive quarters - to a five-year low of 25% - January 2026 sees an upturn, with 27% of enterprises predicting growth for the first three-months of 2026.

Not only is this America's 250th year, but it is a year when competing visions for America's economic future are coming to a head,

The latest reading of BDO's Optimism Index, which surveyed over 4,000 executives, shows confidence has dropped to levels last seen during the early stages of the pandemic, with businesses across the services and manufacturing sectors citing persistent inflation, rising costs and weak demand as key factors. The findings come at a fragile moment for the UK, as companies face ongoing uncertainty around interest rates, labour shortages and subdued consumer spending.

Companies across the state say rising operating costs continue to squeeze their outlook, according to the latest Associated Industries of Massachusetts Business Confidence Index. Confidence in both the state and U.S. economies has dropped more than 15 points from a year ago, even as consumer spending holds steady and business investment shows resilience. "Consumer spending has remained relatively resilient, supported by steady job growth, rising real wages in some sectors, and strong balance sheets among higher-income households," said Sara Johnson, chair of the AIM Board of Economic Advisors.

The IoD's Directors' Economic Confidence Index, which tracks business leader optimism about the wider UK economy, rose to -66 in December, up from -73 in November, which had been measured immediately before the Budget.

We are now at a level where we can't tax anybody any more, but we can't borrow any more, so we are really at the mercy of those people we've borrowed from, so if they lose confidence in us, we have serious issues.

A £5 billion tax raid on salary sacrifice pension schemes announced in Rachel Reeves's Budget has emerged as the single most damaging policy for business confidence, according to new research from the Confederation of British Industry. Almost three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed by the CBI said the move to levy national insurance contributions on pension salary sacrifice above a new cap was the most harmful measure in the Budget, warning it risks deterring workers from saving for retirement and disproportionately hitting middle earners.

The UK's private sector spent much of the autumn effectively "in limbo", delaying investment and hiring decisions amid weeks of swirling Budget speculation that business leaders say left them bruised and uncertain about the government's intentions. The latest monthly survey from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reveals that firms sharply downgraded expectations for activity in the months ahead. The composite measure for anticipated private-sector activity fell to -27 in November,

On Monday, I told a conference of Britain's biggest businesses that Labour's day one employment rights policy would destroy jobs and drag our country backwards. Four days later, and in the aftermath of their disastrous budget, Starmer and Reeves have finally woken up to just how bad these policies actually are. This is yet another humiliating u-turn. Labour talk about stability but govern in chaos. No company can plan, invest or hire with this level of uncertainty hanging over them.

One in eight UK small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders are planning to relocate themselves, their companies, or both overseas, citing rising taxes and mounting regulatory costs, according to a new report by Rathbones. The research, released just weeks before Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers her Autumn Budget, paints a bleak picture of business confidence across the UK's private sector. If realised, the potential exodus could involve around 680,000 firms out of the UK's 5.67 million SMEs

Analysis from Grant Thornton UK finds that labour productivity of UK mid-size businesses, when measured as average annual revenue per employee, has surpassed that of larger and smaller companies, and the UK average, for the past six years. Compiled in advance of the Autumn Budget 2025, the research, which analyses labour productivity levels of UK businesses over the past eleven years, finds that, in 2024, the productivity gap by company size continued to widen, with mid-size businesses (MSBs) pulling further ahead than other segments.

Mr Donaldson, CEO, The Maxol Group, called on Stormont and Westminster politicians to shift gears from strategies to 'full throttle economic delivery' and build on the UK-EU Common Understanding on trade and emissions cooperation, US trade deals, north-south trade successes and improved rail links between Belfast and Dublin. He said: "These are serious times that demand serious solutions... Business should be the engine of growth, and I know that the firms in this room are ready to play their part - but confidence hinges on tangible results that people can feel in their daily lives."

The UK is emerging as one of the world's most attractive destinations for technology businesses, outpacing rivals in the US, Europe and Asia-Pacific, according to new research from Barclays. The bank's latest Business Prosperity Index found that 62 per cent of UK tech leaders see their home market as a better place to grow and scale a business than mainland Europe, with 61 per cent preferring the UK to Asia-Pacific and 60 per cent favouring it over the US.

Business confidence plunged this month across the UK's services sector as mounting cost pressures and weak demand hit profits and undermined the outlook for the rest of the year. The CBI's latest service sector poll found that a majority of companies were gloomy about their prospects and discounted the acceleration in activity that usually follows the return to work after the summer break.

Just over half (53%) of leaders say revenue increased year-on-year over the second quarter-nearly double the 28% who say it dropped. However, increases are largely the result of higher menu prices and new openings, and the CGA RSM Hospitality Business Tracker has indicated broadly flat spending on a like-for-like basis in the first half of 2025. Meanwhile, higher costs-including higher minimum pay levels and National Insurance contributions from April, as well as sustained inflation in food and drink-have hurt the margins of many operators.

Despite the rate cut, UK businesses face strong hurdles; the US-UK trade deal is a bright spot amidst ongoing uncertainties.

The unemployment rate in Ontario fluctuated between 7.3% and 7.6% in early 2024, indicative of a fragile economy facing significant external pressures.