Canadians’ Confidence Holds Strong
Winnipeg, MB – July 10, 2007: The latest Decima-Investors Group Index of Canadian Consumer Confidence shows Canadian consumers’ confidence rose slightly through the second quarter of the year, while declining significantly in the US for the second quarter in a row. The Index is based upon five questions that probe perceptions of current and future economic conditions, on both a macro and a personal level, and employs a similar model to the University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment.
- The Canadian index rose to 87.7, a shift of +1.1 points from last quarter. During the same period, US confidence decreased by 5.1 points to 83.7
- Confidence decreased in Alberta and BC and rose across the rest of the country
- This quarter saw an increase in the number of people who say the country’s economy will be better next year, and over the next five years. There was also a rise in the number of consumers who say this is a good time to make a major purchase.
- The only sub-indicator that showed a decline was the number of people who said they would be better off next year than they were this year. While the number who expressed optimism on this question is down slightly, the number of pessimists did not rise, suggesting relatively robust personal economic comfort.
According to Decima CEO Bruce Anderson “Consumers in Canada feel the economy is strong today and looks healthy into the future. In the past booming performance for a length of time made many wonder if a bust was imminent; today the longer growth persists, the longer people seem to feel it can continue. This lack of anxiety may make it harder to improve productivity and competitiveness, or at least to engage people in a national debate about what it will take for Canada to remain strong in the future.”
According to Debbie Ammeter, Vice-President of Advanced Financial Planning at Investors Group, “Canadian consumer confidence remains strong because current economic conditions remain positive. The continued strong performance of the Canadian dollar coupled with relative stability in interest rate and employment levels certainly encourage Canadians to adopt a positive outlook for the near and longer term.”
The data for this index is based on a representative sample of 2,018 Canadians (18 years and older) surveyed between June 7th through 18th, 2007. A sample of this size can be considered accurate within plus or minus 2.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The Decima teleVox is a national telephone survey conducted weekly by Decima Research Inc
Selected Economic Indicators
| December 2005 |
February 2006 |
May 2006 |
September 2006 |
December 2006 |
March 2007 |
June 2007 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 6.4% (Nov) | 6.4% (Feb) | 6.4% (May) | 6.5% (Aug) | 6.3% (Dec) | 6.1% (Mar) | 6.1% (Jun) |
| CPI | 2.0% (Nov) | 2.8% (Jan) | 2.4% (April) | 2.4% (July) | 1.4% (Dec) | 1.2% (Jan) | 2.2% (May) |
| C$/US$ | 0.85 (Dec 20) | .86 (M 10) | .90 (Jun 07) | 0.90 (Sept 1) | 0.87 (Dec 19) | 0.85 (Mar 15) | 0.94 (Jun 20) |
| Prime Rate | 5% (Dec) | 5.25% (M 1) | 6.00% (May) | 6.00% (Aug) | 6.00% (Dec) | 6.00% (Mar) | 6.00% (Jun) |
| TSX | 11,180 (D19) | 11,879 (M13) | 11,607 (Jun7) | 11,778 (S13) | 12,782 (D19) | 12,874.32 (M15) | 14,118 (J20) |
| CCI | 84.8 | 88.0 | 88.6 | 86.1 | 86.7 | 86.6 | 87.7 |
Regional Patterns
| Index of Canadian Consumer Confidence | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2004 | Aug 2004 | Nov 2004 | Feb 2005 | May 2005 | Sept 2005 | Dec 2005 | Feb 2006 | May 2006 | Aug 2006 | Dec 2006 | Mar 2007 | Jun 2007 | Change | |
| Canada | 79.5 | 87.6 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 87.9 | 75.1 | 84.8 | 88.0 | 88.6 | 86.1 | 86.7 | 86.6 | 87.7 | +1.1 |
| Region | ||||||||||||||
| Atlantic | 79.1 | 85.8 | 90.2 | 87.9 | 84.4 | 64.3 | 78.0 | 88.7 | 85.8 | 87.1 | 88.6 | 83.9 | 86.6 | +2.7 |
| Quebec | 78.4 | 90.3 | 83.6 | 84.7 | 85.9 | 70.3 | 78.1 | 79.3 | 86.0 | 81.1 | 83.0 | 82.3 | 85.9 | +3.6 |
| Ontario | 79.7 | 87.0 | 87.1 | 88.7 | 87.5 | 74.0 | 82.8 | 87.2 | 85.5 | 83.5 | 84.8 | 83.6 | 85.5 | +1.9 |
| Man/Sask | 80 | 83.8 | 85.6 | 86.4 | 89.9 | 70.9 | 93.4 | 89.6 | 91.5 | 86.9 | 91.3 | 92.5 | 93.7 | +1.2 |
| Alberta | 79.7 | 88.6 | 97.0 | 93.3 | 92.9 | 88.5 | 96.0 | 105.1 | 100.4 | 99.8 | 92.7 | 96.1 | 90.6 | -5.5 |
| B.C. | 79.0 | 86.3 | 93.0 | 89.6 | 89.9 | 85.8 | 94.1 | 93.0 | 93.2 | 91.2 | 91.3 | 94.6 | 93.2 | -1.4 |
| USA1 | 90.2 | 95.9 | 92.8 | 94.1 | 86.9 | 76.9 | 81.6 | 86.7 | 79.1 | 82.0 | 92.1 | 88.8 | 83.7 | -5.1 |
1 University of Michigan.
Decima is Canada’s largest independent and fastest growing public opinion and marketing research company, offering research-based advice as well as large-scale telephone, online and qualitative data collection. Visit us at: www.decima.com
Investors Group, founded in 1926, is a national leader in delivering personalized financial solutions to Canadians through a network of over 4,000 Consultants located throughout Canada. In addition to an exclusive family of mutual funds and other investment vehicles, Investors Group offers a wide range of insurance, securities, mortgage and banking services. Investors Group is a member of the IGM Financial Inc. (TSX: IGM) group of companies. IGM Financial is one of Canada’s premier financial services companies with over $125 billion in total assets under management.
| For more information contact: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Anderson CEO Tel: (613) 230-2200 banderson@decima.com |
Ron Arnst Media Relations (204) 956-3364 ron.arnst@investorsgroup.com |
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