JANUARY 2026 INDUSTRY NEWS AND TRENDS
Q1 2026 sees SMBs confident about the future
A Business Pulse survey of U.S. business owners was released this month by Citizens, and it shows that smaller businesses are feeling confident about their growth prospects. According to the survey, 86% of businesses earning $5M+ in annual revenue and 64% of businesses earning $500K – $4.9M expect to see revenue growth in the first quarter, and 60% of all SMBs plan to deploy more capital during this period.
Equifax: K-shaped economy is a trend to watch
The economy is growing, but that progress is not being experienced by all households equally. Insights from Equifax suggest that the economy is becoming increasingly K-shaped, with higher-income households feeling confident and spending freely while lower-income households are curtailing spending and falling deeper into debt and delinquency.
To understand and predict market resilience in 2026, Equifax recommends monitoring signals such as job creation, wage growth, inflation, consumer savings rates and debt levels, and credit performance.
See global credit risk outlooks for 15 sectors
Global trade credit agency Atradius has published its Q1 forecast for the credit risk outlooks for 15 sectors across 37 economies worldwide. The forecast captures business performance and credit risk for each sector in each market, giving each a rating from low to high credit risk. Ratings are assigned to 555 industries by Atradius risk analysts, including forecasts for food, pharma, financial services, electronics, transport, paper, construction, and many more.
