Canadian Consumer Confidence Steady

OTTAWA, Dec. 15 /CNW/ - The latest Harris/Decima-Investor's Group Index of Consumer Confidence indicates that Canadian consumer confidence has increased very slightly over the past three months. Meanwhile, US consumer confidence rose over the same period as well.

The significant elements of the Index also remained relatively unchanged including:

•16% of Canadians indicating they are better off financially compared to a year ago, while 23% feel they are worse off. These numbers remain essentially unchanged from August when the split was 15%-24%.
•Canadians remain more likely to see good times financially for themselves a year from now than bad. In total, 27% believe they will be better off a year from now, consistent with the 26% recorded in the last wave. Conversely, 12% feel they will be worse off a year from now.
•One in five Canadians (19%) see good times ahead for the economy in the next twelve months, essentially unchanged from the 20% who said so in the last wave. Conversely, 14% see bad times over this same period, relatively unchanged from the 16% who said so in August.
•A majority (52%) believe there will be good times financially for the Canadian economy in the next 5 years, while 34% believe there will be unemployment and recession over this period. This split remains represents a slight dip from the 55%-32% split recorded in the previous wave.
•Half (50%) believe that now is a good time to make a major purchase. Nationally, 35% believe it is a bad time to make such a purchase. In August, this split was 49%-36%.
According to Senior Vice-President Doug Anderson, "As the year wraps up, Canadians remain cautious, but confident. These numbers suggest that while some media narratives may suggest a more pessimistic economic future, Canadians are referencing their own experiences and are stabilizing at roughly the same relatively positive outlook we were measuring in the quarters preceding the recession."

"Canadians appear to have acknowledged that the economic situation and their personal financial lives have become a little more stable," said Jack Courtney, Assistant Vice-President of Advanced Financial Planning at Investors Group. "This is a positive indication that we can continue to plan and move forward with confidence."

These data were gathered through teleVox, the company's national telephone omnibus survey for two weeks from November 18 to November 29 , 2010 for just over 2,000 completes. A sample of the same size has a margin of error of 2.2%, 19 times out of 20.