Contrary to our Economy feature showing that small business optimism is picking up, we now, to argue both sides, present a recent Wells Fargo survey which purports the opposite. Indeed, Tuesday Wells Fargo had the latest release of its quarterly survey of small business owners. The survey’s broad measure of confidence turned down for the first time in 2012 eroding most of the gains from winter and spring. Further, 37% of participants stated that credit conditions had worsened versus 32% last quarter.  The number of business owners expecting to be in a good financial position NTM and those expecting sales to increase NTM both also reported declines. Business Journal continues, “The Wells Fargo survey reflects business owners' concerns about their financial outlook for revenue and cash flow, the bank said.

"Business owners have a lot of unknowns in front of them today," said Doug Case, Wells Fargo's (NYSE: WFC) small business segment manager. "In the survey, businesses said they'll be more likely to invest in their businesses when they see improvements in their operating environment, and better sales and revenues." The quarterly survey found that 53 percent of business owners made capital investments over the past year, with the majority purchasing new equipment or machinery. But just 41 percent plan to make capital investments over the next 12 months, with concern about the overall economy being their chief reason for keeping checkbooks closed…”