Consumer sentiment sees slight improvement

The plunge in Canadian consumer confidence over the past couple of months seems to have come to a halt for now, with sentiment levels stabilizing for a third straight week.

The Bloomberg Nanos Canadian Confidence Index ticked up slightly last week, its first gain since early February. The gauge remains near all-time lows after plummeting as millions of Canadians lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results suggest income support programs have helped put a floor under consumer confidence amid economy-wide shutdowns. As of April 28, Canada’s government had paid $25.6 billion to 7.3 million workers under its main emergency benefit program.

The government also began taking in applications for its wage subsidy program last week, which will be the most expensive component of its fiscal package.

“After a wholesale collapse in consumer confidence ... in the wake of the COVID -19 outbreak, the negative trajectory may be flattening in the short term,” Nik Nanos, chief data scientist at Nanos Research, said in a statement.

Every week, Nanos Research surveys 250 Canadians for their views on personal finances, job security and their outlook for the economy and real estate prices.

Bloomberg publishes four-week rolling averages of the 1,000 telephone responses.

The composite gauge rose to 37.7 last week, from 37.1 a week earlier. It’s still about 20 points below its average over the past year.