Fed Survey: 95% of US small businesses reported coronavirus impacted their business

A recently conducted survey by the Federal Reserve showed on Wednesday that 95% of small businesses in the US with fewer than 500 employees reported that the coronavirus pandemic impacted their business, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"78% of firms reported a decline in revenue and 46% reduced their workforce."

"Almost 90% of small business owners said sales had not returned to pre-pandemic levels by September or October."

"Of firms reporting a drop in sales, nearly one-third said they would be unlikely to survive without government assistance."

"64% of firms said they would apply for another round of government aid if offered."

"54% of firms overall characterized their financial condition as 'fair' or 'poor,' but outcomes varied starkly by race and ethnicity of owners."

"79% of Asian-owned firms, 77% of black-owned firms and 66% of Hispanic-owned firms characterized their financial condition as fair or poor."

"Credit availability was the top expected challenge for black-owned firms over the next 12 months."

"Firms that received paycheck protection program funds were more likely to retain workforce than applicants that did not receive funding."

Market reaction

This report doesn't seem to be impacting the market sentiment. As of writing, the S&P 500 Futures were up 0.27% on a daily basis at 3,836.