Small business owners, including those in Alabama, continued to show high levels of optimism through February, according to the latest NFIB Optimism Index released on Tuesday.

The index showed slightly higher levels of optimism in February than January, up 0.2 points to 104.5 — a reading that is among the top 10% in the survey’s 46-year history. Those expecting better business conditions increased, and job creation and openings also improved.

It should, however, be noted that real sales expectations declined, as did capital expenditure and inventory plans.

“The small business economic expansion continued its historic run in February, as owners remained focused on growing their businesses in this supportive tax and regulatory environment,” stated National Federation of Independent Business chief economist William Dunkelberg.

Yet, the coronavirus outbreak could stand in the way of continued growth for the nation’s and state’s record breaking economies.

“February was another historically strong month for the small business economy, but it’s worth noting that nearly all of the survey’s responses were collected prior to the recent escalation of the coronavirus outbreak and the Federal Reserve rate cut. Business is good, but the coronavirus outbreak remains the big unknown,” Dunkelberg added.

State-specific data was unavailable, but NFIB Alabama state director Rosemary Elebash remarked, “Our members ended the month feeling really good about the direction of the economy. Hopefully, they’ll continue to add jobs and grow their businesses in the months ahead.”

Read more here on the NFIB’s latest survey results.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn