kate rodgers has the details >>> good morning optimism taking a slight dip to 107.4, the second monthly in a row after hitting a new all-time high in august. this month's read is still well above the historical average of 98 this is a look at how optimism has been tracking over the past year the group noted the biggest drop this month was in those who believe now is a good time to expand the only component to see gains was in plans to increase inventories. small businesses are feeling positive heading into the end of the year when sales are expected to get a nice boost from the holiday season labor remains a stubborn issue for small business it is in the top spot yet again this month as the single biggest issue followed by taxes and red tape this has been the case for 2018. it is not improving but also not impacting optimism it's also not holding back the positive sentiment that small businesses continue to have. one more thing to note, wagers and plans to increase compensation, both of those are near record highs. back over to you >> thank you for that report >>> coming up, the dow fal