Canadian Consumer Sentiment Shows Some Signs of Stabilizing

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian consumer confidence continues to show signs of stabilizing after recently falling to historically low levels.

The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index was little changed last week at 37.1, the first time since early March the gauge hasn’t recorded a large decline that has seen the sentiment index plunge to the lowest on record.

The results suggest that income support programs have helped put a floor under consumer confidence amid the economy-wide shutdowns. As of April 23, Canada’s government had paid C$22.4 billion ($15.9 billion) under its main emergency benefit program to 7.1 million workers.

“After very steep declines in consumer confidence over the past weeks in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, the negative trajectory abated,” Nik Nanos, chief data scientist at Nanos Research, said in a statement. In two regions -- Quebec and the Atlantic -- the data even showed a small rebound last week.

Every week, Nanos Research surveys 250 Canadians for their views on personal finances, job security and their outlook for both the economy and real estate prices. Bloomberg publishes four-week rolling averages of the 1,000 telephone responses.

The survey shows a state of high anxiety.

• The share of Canadians who say their personal finances have worsened over the past year rose last week to 42.3%, up from 38.2% a week earlier. That’s a record high
• The number of Canadians who believe the nation’s economy will worsen over the next six months recorded a small decline -- to 77.9% from 80.2%. That’s the first improvement on the question since February
• Concern about losing a job was little changed last week, at 24.5%. That’s about double the historic average for this question
• Some 46% of respondents now expect home prices to decline. A month ago, that number was at 13%

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