Suddenly, Wall Street is worried that the U.S. economy is more ‘vulnerable’ than it looks

Wall Street trader reacts to the release of the consumer price index numbers (Credit: Michael M. Santiago—Getty Images)

Bespoke Investment Group spotted something it did not like in the most recent National Federation of Independent Business survey this week: that small businesses increasingly report their “number one problem” is poor sales. Of all the options in the survey, “the one problem that you don’t want to be your number one problem is poor sales,” the asset manager says. “During prior economic contractions, we’ve seen this reading for poor sales tick sharply higher. As shown below, while still relatively low for now, it has begun to tick higher again recently.”