Canadian Businesses Are Optimistic, But Few Expect Sales Growth

The Canadian economy is doing better than many had anticipated, but it’s far from a strong economy. Statistics Canada’s (StatCan) Survey on Business Conditions shows strong optimism in Q3. However, that optimism isn’t driven by growth in sales or operations, but the hope that things won’t get worse. Canadian Businesses Are Optimistic, But Few Expect Sales Growth The agency found 72.6% of businesses are very or “somewhat” optimistic about their 12 month outlook. This is 5.8 percentage points higher than Q2, and pretty much where it was in Q1. However, optimism doesn’t mean sales growth in this environment. Most (68.1%) expect sales to stall in Q3, up from 60.7% in Q2. Another 13.9% expect declining sales, a slight improvement from 16.3% over the same period. It’s not clear what’s driving the optimism, but surviving limited downward pressure may be it. When faced with destabilizing risks, nothing happening can feel like winning the lottery. Hiring, Demand, and Profit Expectations Are Weak Too Most companies (84%) expect to keep their employee headcount unchanged, up from 81.3% in Q2. Those points came from a decline in hiring intentions, from 11.3% in Q2 to 8.3%. Companies expecting ...