Easier Money, Old Anxieties: Lending Loosens as Inflation Worry Hits a Record

Key Trends

• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Index held essentially flat at 66.5 for Q2 2026 (vs. 67.0 in Q1), but inflation reclaimed the top owner concern at a record 57% — up from 48% a year ago — even as cash-flow comfort ticked down. Confidence in the underlying business stayed steady: 93% of owners still expect growth over the next year.

  Review

  “93% of owners still expect growth” attributed to the Chamber survey — the Chamber’s Q2 2026 Index actually shows 66% expecting increased revenue next year; 93% appears to be misattributed from the OnDeck/Ocrolus report below — fix the sourcing/figure.

• AI adoption among small businesses reached 61%, up from 58% in Q1, with 91% of adopters reporting a positive impact, per an OnDeck/Ocrolus report published July 31. The same report found 75% of small businesses now bypass traditional banks for capital.

  Unverified

  OnDeck is a small-business lender (Enova International) and Ocrolus a fintech data vendor — this is a vendor-commissioned survey of their own customer base, not an independent poll of small businesses broadly; the bank-bypass and AI figures should be read as directional rather than representative.

Notable Businesses & Launches

• Intuit launched a Business Credit Card on July 22 that syncs natively with QuickBooks — 2% cash back on everyday spend, 5% on Intuit products, and automatic receipt-to-transaction matching, issued by WebBank on the Mastercard network.

• Square rolled out ChatGPT and Claude integrations on July 1, letting shoppers discover and buy from Square sellers through AI chat with no new contracts or added fees — first live with U.S. food-and-beverage merchants on Square Online Ordering.

Funding & Investment

• Fundworks, a tech-enabled small-business lender, extended and upsized its investment-grade corporate notes to $40 million on July 29, with proceeds earmarked for refinancing and continued origination growth; the company has funded over $1 billion to more than 15,000 small businesses since inception.

  Review

  “$1 billion to more than 15,000 small businesses” — single-sourced company self-announcement with no [!unverified] flag, same category as the OnDeck flag above — add one or cite a second source.

• The broader capital backdrop stayed strong: fintech investment climbed to $2.03 billion for the week ending July 31, continuing a run of heavy weeks that gives SMB-focused lenders more capital to draw from.

  Review

  “$2.03 billion for the week ending July 31” — single-sourced to one industry tracker with no independent corroboration — verify with a second source or add [!unverified].

Regulatory & Economic Context

• The prime rate has held steady after declining through 2025, small-business loan approval rates sat near 52% through Q1 2026, and the Community Bank Regulatory Relief Index has stayed at 100 or above for six straight quarters, per the SBA Office of Advocacy’s July 2026 Small Business in Seconds report.

  Unverified

  The primary Office of Advocacy document could not be accessed directly; figures are drawn from secondary summaries and should be confirmed against the source PDF.

• The SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee reconvenes August 6 to continue work on modernizing public-market access and IPO paths for small companies — a slow-moving but relevant thread for the funding environment this week.

Takeaway