- BoC's Business Outlook Survey (BOS): Business sentiment softened in most regions even before concerns around COVID‑19 intensified in Canada
Market news
6 April 2020
BoC's Business Outlook Survey (BOS): Business sentiment softened in most regions even before concerns around COVID‑19 intensified in Canada
- Sales have collapsed for businesses in some consumer-oriented industries and energy firms have experienced a dramatic increase in economic and financial stress;
- Sales outlook for businesses tied to the energy sector had weakened significantly because of falling oil prices
- Amid softening domestic demand, businesses planned modest increases in capital spending on machinery and equipment in next 12 months;
- Balance of opinion on employment intentions has continued to trend downward since mid-2018 to below its historical average;
- While businesses anticipated input prices to grow slightly faster, they expected to increase their output prices at a marginally slower pace due to competitive pressures;
- Inflation expectations continued to edge up toward 2 percent target midpoint of BoC's inflation-control range;
- BOS indicator fell below zero (to -0.68 from +0.75 in previous survey), signaling that business sentiment had softened even before the COVID‑19 shock intensified. Results for several BOS questions fell to levels slightly below or near their historical average, often reflecting widespread weakness in the energy-producing regions and an easing in activity, sometimes from high levels.
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