US small business optimism rises in April, says NFIB

According to figures released on Tuesday, the NFIB index rose 1.7 points to 96.9, although the reading was the second-worst on record since October.

"Optimism may have seen a slight jump from last month's weak numbers, but there was not an especially large gain in any area except for an improvement in profit trends," said NFIB chief economist Bill Dunkelberg in a statement.

Among the businesses surveyed, the number of those hiring or planning to hire rose 1% to 11%, while the number of firms reporting positions they were not able to fill right now rose from 24% to 27%.

The number of firms reporting raising compensation grew from 22% to 23%, while another 14% of businesses plan to raise compensation within the next six months compared with 13% last month.

“The April NFIB survey is consistent with our expectation of a pickup in non-energy business investment this year and does little to change our outlook,” analysts at Barclays said in a note.