Canadians remain in a pondering mood about the world economic situation, ever-so-slightly up on some measures and down on others, suggests results from TNS Canadian Facts’ Consumer Confidence Index.
"Canadians, for the most part, only seem ready to think about the positive economic news but not ready to act on it," said Michael Antecol, vice-president of TNS Canadian Facts and director of the marketing research firm’s monthly tracking study.
The drags on this month’s overall index are twofold. After several consecutive positive months, the Present Situation Index, which captures evaluations of the overall state of the current economic and employment situations, slid one point to 85.5 from September’s 86.5 and the Buy Index, which gauges the degree to which people think the current period is a good time to make major purchases, fell for the second straight month, losing 2.4 points to 101.3.
But slight positive notes are evident in the Expectations Index, which measures consumers’ estimation of the economy, household income and employment in the next six months. Not only is this index much higher than it was at this time last year, it also recaptured its small September loss, posting a 1.2 uptick to settle at 111.2 this month.
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