The First Quarter of 2011 Wells Fargo/Gallup Survey: Small business owner optimism
continues to edge higher and businesses anticipate improved revenues and job
growth in 2011.

Small business owners showed growing confidence in the economic recovery with
increased optimism for the second consecutive quarter, according to the most
recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey conducted January 13-19,
2011. Measuring business owner optimism across the nation, the latest Index
score rose another 16 points this quarter, lifting out of negative territory
to reach 12. The Index has gained 40 points since July 2010, the largest two-
quarter gain in optimism recorded since the inception of the survey in August
2003.

“Small businesses are feeling much better about this economic recovery than they
did two quarters ago,” said Dr. Scott Anderson, Wells Fargo senior economist.
“These gains in optimism exceed the improvement we saw between August 2003 and
March 2004, when the last economic recovery gathered some momentum and stronger
job growth ensued. It appears the change is driven by healthy gains in demand
from consumers and businesses, which are leading to improvements in small
businesses revenues and cash flows.”

About the Small Business Index
The Index is the sum of “present situation” and “future expectations” of business
owners for six key measures, including financial situation, cash flow, revenues,
capital allocation spending, job hiring and credit availability. Looking forward,
business owners expect improvements in their financial situation, revenues, jobs
and access to credit over the next 12 months. Of these measures, they are most
optimistic about increased revenues, with 54 percent expecting an increase of a
lot or a little, up from 44 percent in Q4 2010.

“The latest results demonstrate a return to positive territory for the Index --
and an important change in trajectory,” said Doug Case, Wells Fargo small business
segment manager. “We are seeing solid improvement from both the present situation
and future expectation components of the Index. The increased optimism is
encouraging and we find that many business owners remain cautiously optimistic --
they’re keeping their doors open and looking for new business opportunities.”

“The latest results demonstrate a return to positive territory for the Index --
and an important change in trajectory,” said Doug Case, Wells Fargo small business
segment manager. “We are seeing solid improvement from both the present situation
and future expectation components of the Index. The increased optimism is encouraging
and we find that many business owners remain cautiously optimistic -- they’re keeping
their doors open and looking for new business opportunities.”