![Bank of Canada](https://images.forexlive.com/images/BoC_id_30c3b9cd-2deb-4fe4-be43-dfdbdfdfec76_size900.jpg)
Bank of Canada
- Business sentiment 21% vs 17% prior
- Firms’ sales outlooks are mostly unchanged from last quarter and remain more pessimistic than average
- Businesses tied to discretionary spending reported particularly weak sales expectations, while those tied to essential spending see population growth continuing to benefit their sales.
- Investment spending plans also remain below average
- The share of firms reporting labour shortages is near survey lows
- Future sales indicator -1 vs +4 prior
- Businesses expect inflation to average 2.9% over the next two years, down from 3.2% in the previous quarter and closer to the Bank of Canada's 2% target
- The share of firms planning larger-than-normal price increases has fallen to 21% for the next 12 months, down from 27% in 2023.
![future sales](https://images.forexlive.com/images/future%20sales_id_600e0e24-01e6-44c8-b875-762237740850_original.jpg)
Firms tied to discretionary spending:
![discretionary](https://images.forexlive.com/images/discretionary_id_d5008516-bacb-4e51-8d87-e581bbbc28f4_original.jpg)
This is a red alert for the Canadian jobs market as the share of companies seeing labor shortages falls to survey lows.
![survey lows](https://images.forexlive.com/images/survey%20lows_id_29b52a2c-8060-440e-b454-4fe65ae0b938_original.jpg)
Businesses expect inflation to average 2.9% over the next two years, down from 3.2% in the previous quarter and closer to the Bank of Canada's 2% target