Small businesses are pessimistic and feeling the heat of inflation

US small-business confidence hit its lowest level since December 2012, with 25% of owners citing inflation as the single most important problem in operating their business. Additionally, a net negative 18% of owners expect higher real sales volume, down 8 points from February.

In today's rendition of " the stock market is not the economy ," the dominance of big tech and Wall Street has covered a lot of the pain on Main Street.

While the big, tech-heavy S&P 500 is flirting with all-time highs, the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks 2,000 US small-cap stocks, is still 14% off its 2021 peak.

US small-business sentiment slides to lowest level in more than 11 years

In today's rendition of " the stock market is not the economy ," the dominance of big tech and Wall Street has covered a lot of the pain on Main Street.

While the big, tech-heavy S&P 500 is flirting with all-time highs, the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks 2,000 US small-cap stocks, is still 14% off its 2021 peak.