Three Things to Watch For Small and Middle Market Businesses in 2020

1. Three Things to Watch For Small and Middle Market Businesses in 2020 2020 is approaching faster than we want. With trade disputes in a full swing and upcoming election next year promises to be interesting for U.S. businesses. I am not talking here about Fortune 500 companies. The big boys will adjust and will weather any headwinds. Companies that employ from one to 500 people might have bigger challenges to face:

2. Trade tariffs. This goes both ways . There will be some winners and some losers. There are tens of thousands of small U.S. based manufacturers with sales less than $20 million that surprise surprise manufacture their goods in China.

3. Labor shortage. One of the biggest headaches of strong economy is labor shortage. This affects all the industries from manufacturing, logistics down to banking, finance and technology sectors. If we hit growth slow down or recession in 2020 labor market should improve. I talked to the owner of construction company and he said he’s been passing on new projects because if he bids and wins he wouldn’t have enough employees to work on it. 

4. Interest rates. If I was writing this post six months ago I’d be talking how rising interest rates will have negative impact on further economic growth. Today expectations are that before year end Fed might have one or two more rate cuts of 0.25% – 0.75%. Lower rates are a good thing for smaller and middle market size businesses. Access to cheap capital spurs growth for those companies. https://goatfinja.com/index.php/2019/08/20/three-things-to-watch-for-small-and-middle-market-businesses-in-2020