Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The Chill in the Air

There will be a lot of hemming and hawing over whether or not there is or will be a credit crunch for small business borrowers in the next 6 to 12 months. No bank or lender will likely publicly acknowledge a credit crunch until we're in the midst of one.

That being said, these two articles caught my eye in the last day.

First, the Wall Street Journal reported that "more than a quarter of chief financial officers responding to a survey due out today (9/11) from Duke's Fuqua School of Business and CFO Magazine said their companies were being affected by the crisis spreading through the credit markets". In response, these CFOs were delaying or reducing capital spending and hiring. I would love to see the survey to see what size companies these CFOs represent.

Second, I received an email from CFO.com about the latest quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. Optimism about the business environment is falling among owners of smaller firms. Only 48% of small business owners nationwide now say that credit is easy to obtain, down from 53% in the prior quarter. Wells Fargo senior economist, Dr. Scott Anderson, said "the chill of tighter credit is curbing small business owner optimism".

Is your business experiencing a credit crunch? Read "Matchmaking for Business Loans" and give me a call!

Tags : credit crunch , small business , CFO Magazine , CFO


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