Bryan Yu: Small business outlook dims as costs, uncertainty climb |
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business Barometer survey showed a weaker long-term outlook and a virtually unchanged short-term outlook in October, pointing to ongoing stress and uncertainty among small businesses. Nationally, the Barometer index for 12-month confidence declined by 3.9 points from a revised 50.3 points in September to 46.3 points in October. The short-term index, though, was marginally up from a revised 44.6 points to 44.8 points. On balance, small businesses remained pessimistic about future business conditions which has coincided with recent sluggishness in the housing market and an increase in U.S. tariff threats.
Of the 12 sectors listed, five had higher long-term index values compared to the previous month. Notably, the largest increase was in professional business services, which moved from 46.4 to 52.7 points. The largest decline was in information, arts and recreation, which fell 9.4 points to 45.1. The industry with the highest value was health and education services with an index value of 55.4, whereas retail showed........