The NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index deteriorated in April. But some of the underlying components of the index were encouraging. Plans to increase employment improved, current jobs openings improved, expected credit conditions were less bad, and more businesses agreed “now a good time to expand.” strgnfibcom.blob.core.windows.net/nfibc…

On a related note, Goldman Sachs recently did some research showing that during particularly uncertain times, negative sentiment tends to exaggerate what’s really going on in terms of actual business decisions. tker.co/p/weekly-macro-soft-vs-hard-data