Capital One Finds Small Biz Conditions Improved In Q1

It looks like we get to kick off National Small Business Week with some good news: Capital One has released the results of its Q1 2010 Small Business Barometer survey, and a significant majority of small business owners feel the economy has stopped deteriorating.

Braun Research contacted 1,915 small businesses on behalf of Capital One, and Capital One concluded in a statement, "A large majority (nearly 80 percent) of the small business owners surveyed in the first quarter of this year believe that economic conditions are either improving or holding steady."

What’s more, 70 percent of the small business owners involved in the survey indicated they have access to all the credit or financing they need.

Finally, 39 percent of the small business owners said their businesses did better in the first quarter of 2010 than the fourth quarter of 2009, and even though it’s possible to argue whether or not that number’s especially impressive, it represents a gain of eleven percentage points on a quarter-over-quarter basis.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the rest of National Small Business Week brings us additional news of this nature.