The National Association of Credit Management’s (NACM) October Credit Managers’ Index (CMI) fell from 55.3 to 54.4, reflecting the mood of the overall economy right now, the organization said. Some aspects point in a positive direction, and some are decidedly worrying. The sense is that a few of the big issues that have been affecting other economic measures are having an impact on the CMI as well. It is hard to point explicitly at the “fiscal cliff” as a cause for overall decline, but it is also quite apparent that the uncertainty affecting business decision-making is having an impact, as some of the future indicators are weaker than expected at this point.

NACM said given that many companies continue to indicate that they are planning more capital expenditures, there is not much to attribute this drop to other than worry about the outcome of the fiscal cliff issue.

According to the NACM, the most distressing number in this month’s survey, and the one that seems to point to the fiscal cliff issue, would be sales. The October sales number has fallen as low as it has been since the middle of last year, settling in at 57.4. In July, the sales index dipped under 60 for the first time since November 2011, but in August there was a strong rebound to 62. That was followed by September