The Financial Post reports in its Thursday edition that fears of a trade dispute with the U.S. have pushed consumer confidence in Canada to its lowest level in more than a year, according to a new report.
A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that the Conference Board of Canada said Monday its Index of Consumer Confidence, a broad measure of how Canadians are feeling about the economy, fell more than 12 points to 52.6 in February, the largest one-month drop in more than a year-and-a-half.
The survey, based on Leger polling, does not ask Canadians what specifically is weighing on their confidence. However, Cory Renner, the organization's associate director of economic forecasting, said the context is clear.
"We're in a peak period where there's a lot of worry about what our largest trading partner is doing and that's got a lot of people worried," he said.
Just over a third of Canadians (33.9 per cent) said their own personal finances are worsening, up 2.7 percentage points from last month. Mr. Renner said Canadians, particularly in manufacturing positions [which are] among the most susceptible if the U.S. moves ahead with tariffs, are gripped by the prospect that their job could be a casualty.
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