This week's Small Business Index released by the National Federation of Independent Business fell back, but is still above the bottom level of the early 2000s recession. That level had been been resisted for more than three years. The economy is still moving slowly. The past couple of weeks have provided some new concerns in terms of global economic stability, but small business has been improving for almost a year. Large corporations are doing well, but may still be resistant to expanding their internal budgets significantly, and instead rely on small businesses as suppliers. This is the typical cycle of business recovery; it remains to be seen if it has legs. As mentioned at the Graph Expo breakfast, we still see the economy in the +2.25% to +2.75% range. A recession is likely to be avoided, but geopolitical events these last weeks indicate that recession risks have increased. Focus on customer communications ROI so you can stay in their budgets.