 
In the second quarter, just 10 fewer Connecticut businesses filed notice of plans to shut down compared with the first quarter, and business starts similarly held steady on a net basis.
The state set a record for business closings in the first half of 2009, which were up 17 percent from the same period in 2008 according to the office of Secretary of State Susan Bysiewicz. Nearly 6,950 businesses disclosed plans to cease operations in the first six months of 2009.
In the second quarter, about that many startups were formed, flat from the first quarter and down 4 percent from the second quarter of 2008. Business starts in the first half of 2009 were down 10 percent from a year earlier.
“Obviously this is still a difficult economic climate for our state”™s entrepreneurs, but we may be starting to see the recession bottom out,” Bysiewicz said. “It appears the severity of both the number of closures and the decline of new business start-ups is lessening, so I see this as a glimmer of hope for our economy.”
