BoC Business Outlook Survey: Reason to be confident about the outlook – NFB

According to National Bank of Canada analyst, Krishen Rangasamy, the Business Outlook Survey released today by the Bank of Canada (BoC) gives the central bank a reason to be confident about the 2020 economic outlook.

Key Quotes:

“Canadian businesses are more optimistic than they were last Autumn. At least that’s the message from the Bank of Canada Business Outlook Survey (BoS) whose aggregate indicator rose again in the fourth quarter of 2019. Note that the survey was conducted between November 13 and December 9, i.e. when there were still concerns additional tariffs would be imposed by the U.S. on China. So there’s room for Canadian business sentiment to improve further should the much-touted “Phase One” of the U.S. and China trade deal go ahead as planned later this month.”

“We’re encouraged that sentiment about future sales and investment remained positive in Q4. Fifty-three percent of survey respondents, the highest share in a year, stated either some or significant difficulty in meeting an unexpected increase in demand.”

“Firms continue to report labour shortages and their intentions to increase employment accordingly jumped to the highest since 2018Q2.”