MONTREAL — Canadians remained cautious about making large purchases in April as consumer confidence returned to a trend of slow improvement this year, according to the latest survey by the Conference Board of Canada.
After three consecutive months of increases, the index fell to 75 in April, down 4.5 percentage points from a surprisingly positive March, the think-tank said Tuesday.
“Rather than focus on this particular month, if you focus on the results over the course of the first four months of the year the results have been moderately positive,” said economist Todd Crawford, the report’s author.
The drop in April was driven by strongly negative responses on future job prospects and attitudes towards making big purchases.