Newtek Business Services, The Small Business Authority, announced the release of the SB Authority Index for January 2012 reaching 110.09 points. The SB Authority Index is up .24% from December 2011. The growth was led by Newtek's proprietary merchant processing volume which was up 7.23% as well as the ADP National Employment Report®, which had a 2% increase.

President and CEO, Barry Sloane said, "Our index improved modestly in the month of January. There was continued improvement in consumer spending but slightly less than in December. In addition, we noticed an increase in personal income, which will be good for the continuation of this trend. Working against this continuation will be the increase in the cost of gasoline, which could eat into consumer spending. We see modest improvement in job creation and see sub 200k employment increases monthly for the near future. All in all we see tepid growth in the small business economy fueled by monetary and government stimulus which when it stops, will leave our markets without a natural impetus for further growth."