Bank of Canada survey shows sentiment improving, but expectations remain soft

The Bank of Canada's (BoC) latest sentiment survey of Canadian businesses revealed that while firms are experiencing a general uptick in forward-looking sentiment, a lot of them are still feeling a growth crunch at the hands of tariffs from the US that are discouraging active trade.

Key highlights

Q3 Business Outlook Survey shows overall intentions remain subdued despite gradual improvement in sentiment.
Q3 Business Service Indicator -2.28 versus -2.40 in Q2.
Expectations for growth in domestic and exports sales remain soft amid trade tensions.
Balance of opinion on indicators of future sales is 0.0, up from -6.0 in Q2.
27% of firms reported outright decline in sales over previous 12 months, up from 24% in Q2.
18% of firms expect inflation to be above 3% for next two years, down from 23% in Q2.
33% of firms expect Canada to be in a recession over the next year, up from 28% in Q2.
35% of firms expect lower labor costs over next 12 months, 14% see higher labor costs.
BoC Q3 Survey of Consumers for next 12 months shows 64.1% of Canadians expect a recession, down from 64.4% in Q2.
BoC Consumer Survey shows expectations for 5-year inflation have risen to 3.67% from 3.45% in Q2.