Bad economic news from Europe appears to be dampening Canadians' consumer confidence, according a TNS survey released this morning.
The TNS Consumer Confidence Index fell to 96.4 in June from 98.8 in May, virtually erasing gains made the previous month. (See "Consumer confidence jumps in May"– May 24.)
Norman Baillie-David, vice-president of TNS in Canada, said bad news in Europe seems to be behind the drop.
"Just when it looked like Canadians were seeing some reason for optimism about the economy, bad news about Spain's banks, uncertainty about Greece's election and our prime minister's public war of words with European leaders about how to handle it, all conspired to turn Canadians off," he said.
"Last month we were looking at Canadians seeing an optimistic summer, but unfortunately that was the top of the roller-coaster ride, and June saw us riding back down."
The Present Situation Index, which measures how people feel about the economy now, also dropped in June, sliding to 96.1 from 99.2 the previous month.
The Expectations Index, which measures people's outlook for the economy six months from now dropped more than three points to 99.3 from 102.7.
The Buy Index, which measures the extent to which Canadians feel it's a good time to purchase a big-ticket item such as a car, slid to 93.8 from 94.2.
