Safe you Finance

The Conference Board of Canada says its consumer confidence index fell again this month, losing 2.9 points to 71.

The think-tank’s latest poll, conducted between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, found the largest one-month decline on record for consumer sentiment in the Prairie region. Confidence also sagged in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, but edged up slightly in Atlantic Canada.

Conference Board economist Paul Darby says consumer sentiment "has fallen to depths previously reached only in 1982 and 1990, which were both periods of recession in Canada."

Darby notes that "ongoing troubles in equity markets undoubtedly had a negative effect on consumers’ view of their family financial situations and future job prospects in their communities businesscards."

He did find one area of optimism: 25.9 per cent of those polled said now is a good time to make a major purchase, up slightly from October, which Darby said "may indicate that the slide in the index is bottoming out."

The Conference Board poll claims a 95 per cent likelihood of being accurate within 2.2 percentage points.

Source