Mixed economic signals seem to be weighing on the sentiment of Canadian consumers.
The weekly index from Bloomberg and Nanos Research shows a decline to 54.87 in the week ending June 29, 2018; down from 55.28 a week earlier and from 57.47 4 weeks ago.
“When asked if they thought that the Canadian economy would become stronger, weaker or stay the same, Canadians are three times more likely to say weaker than stronger in the current wave of research,” said Nanos Research Group Chairman Nik Nanos. “The current high trade tensions with the Trump Administration and uncertainty about the future of NAFTA is casting a pall on consumer confidence in Canada.”
The drop in the overall confidence index is overshadowed by a larger drop in its ‘expectations’ component which tracks the outlook for the economy and real estate prices. This sub-index was down from 55.31 four weeks ago to 50.08 last week.
Ontario and the Prairies showed increased confidence overall but across Canada the weaker sentiment is shown across most demographics and among both renters and homeowners.
