A recent national measure of confidence for small business opportunities in Canada has hit the lowest level of the year, dropping for a second moth in June to 66.3. The confidence ratings fell in 11 out of the 13 industry groups surveyed, which suggests that the pessimism is not industry specific or regional. Sentiment in the Western provinces remained more upbeat, but it also declined on the back of flooding which hurt the agricultural sectors in Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces.

Some energy price stabilization helped confidence in Quebec and Ontario, but not by enough to impact the overall ratings. According to analysts, a reading of 66 doesn't indicate a serious slowdown, but more of a sluggish growth phase. The optimists believe that the slump in confidence is due to some temporary factors and should be transient, with the Bank of Canada echoing this view.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 5th, 2011 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Business Opportunities . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.