Consumer Confidence in Canada Drops to Great Recession Lows

The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index, declined sharply for a second straight week, sinking to the lowest level since the Great Recession more than a decade ago. The aggregate index number dropped to 46.9 last week, down from 51.3 a week earlier and 54.3 two weeks ago. Last week’s decline is the largest since Nanos began weekly tracking for the index in May 2013. The sharp decline underscores just how abruptly the Canadian economy has seized up. With almost one million Canadians applying for jobless claims since the start of the lockdown, according to the latest data. At the same time, there are signs that efforts by policy makers to mitigate the impact with new spending and stimulus are working — the sharp decline in sentiment is largely driven by worsening expectations about the outlook for growth rather than concerns about personal finances.