Canada's consumer confidence index falls

Consumer confidence in Canada slipped in December, ending the year nearly unchanged from where it was a year ago, the Conference Board of Canada said on Tuesday. The board's consumer confidence index slipped 2.6 points to 81, marking a seventh month this year where sentiment has trended lower.
This month, respondents were particularly concerned about future finances over the next six months, as those who responded negatively saw their share of opinion rise 2.7 points to 15.8 percent. Those who expected finances to improve remained relatively unchanged at 24.8 percent. The board said responses to a question on the current state of personal finances showed the balance of opinion has been negative for 26 consecutive months.
Meanwhile, the balance of opinion towards future employment was unchanged from November. The Conference Board said results on its major purchases question continued to prove "worrisome." "At 49.6 percent, the share of Canadians who now consider it a bad time to make a major purchase has reached its highest level since April 2009," the board said. The survey of consumer confidence was conducted between December 2 and December 13, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percent.