What Bank of America's April 2026 Small Business Checkpoint Tells Us About the Deal Market

Bank of America's Institute released its April 2026 Small Business Checkpoint last week, and the data tells a quietly important story about where small business owners are right now: cautious, profitable, and increasingly thinking about what comes next.

Here is what the report shows, what it means for the broader market for small businesses, and how it lines up with what we are seeing every day at SMB.co.

Hiring is slowing for the third month in a row

Small business payroll growth turned negative for the third consecutive month, according to BofA's data. Owners are not laying people off in waves, but they are pulling back on net hiring as costs and uncertainty rise.

That is a meaningful signal. Hiring is one of the first places an owner expresses confidence in the next 12 months. When the curve bends down, it usually means owners are choosing to protect margin and flexibility rather than bet on growth.

But profitability is holding up

Despite the hiring pullback, profitability growth among BofA small business clients stayed positive in Q1, and balance sheets look stable. In other words, owners are being careful, but they are not in distress. The businesses are working. Cash is being managed well.

This is a very different environment than 2020 or 2008. There is no panic. There is just a sober reassessment of where to put time, energy, and capital over the next year.

Owners are choosing flexibility over expansion

The most telling stat in the report: small business payments growth was hovering around just 1% year over year in March. Many owners are not seeking external financing. They are not making big capex bets. They are sitting on liquidity and waiting.

When owners stop investing in growth, the question shifts from "how do I scale this?" to "what do I do with this?" That is the question that brings owners to a marketplace like ours.

What this means for the deal market

Owners are not broadly forced sellers in this environment. There is no fire sale coming. But the combination of slower hiring, flat payments growth, and rising costs creates a quieter shift: more owners are starting to consider a sale instead of doubling down on growth.

That is especially true in labor-intensive sectors like home services, restaurants, hospitality, and manufacturing — where rising wages and harder-to-find workers compound the pressure. For an owner in their 50s or 60s who has been running hard for two decades, the math of "grow harder" gets less attractive every quarter.

For buyers, this is the most interesting kind of market: one with a steady, growing supply of healthy businesses owned by people who are ready to talk, but where prices are still rational because there is no panic on either side.

How this lines up with what we see at SMB.co

The BofA data matches what we are watching in the marketplace:

• More valuation requests from owners who are not actively selling. They want to know what their business is worth so they can plan. That is exactly what our free Bestimate™ valuation is built for.
• More buyer interest in profitable, stable, lower-growth businesses. Independent buyers and search funders are not chasing rocket ships right now. They are chasing cash flow and durability.
• More owners exploring transitions before they are forced to. Slower hiring and flat capex are early indicators that an owner is mentally ready to hand the business off, even if a sale is still 12 to 24 months away.

What to do with this if you own a business

If you own a small business and the BofA picture sounds familiar — profitable, but tired of the grind — the most useful thing you can do this quarter is get a clear, honest read on what your business is worth today.

You do not need to be ready to sell. You need a baseline. From there, you can decide whether to keep building, prepare for a transition in the next year or two, or start having quiet conversations with the right kind of buyer.

Claim your free valuation on SMB.co. It takes about five minutes and it is completely confidential.

What to do with this if you are a buyer

If you are looking to buy, the takeaway is simple: this is a window. Owners are willing to talk. Businesses are healthy. Pricing is reasonable. The next 12 months are likely to deliver a steady stream of well-run businesses coming to market quietly, before the broader narrative catches up.

Start exploring businesses for sale on SMB.co and set up the alerts that match your buy box. The deal you want probably will not be loud about coming to market.

Source: Bank of America Institute, Small Business Checkpoint, April 2026.