BoC: Near-term business prospects continue to be robust

Below are key takeaways from the Bank of Canada's recently published Business Outlook Survey—Autumn 2018.

• The balance of opinion on past sales growth moved down but remains positive, indicating rising sales growth over the past 12 months.
• The indicator of future sales growth increased and is positive, suggesting a faster pace of growth over the next 12 months.
• Firms’ positive sales outlook is underpinned by a solid, broad-based improvement in recent sales indicators.
• Still, many businesses expect their future sales to be limited by capacity constraints (frequently labour-related), competition and regulation.
• After edging down in recent surveys, the balance of opinion on investment intentions rebounded to a high level in the autumn survey.
• Following a steady increase over several surveys, the balance of opinion on employment intentions receded but remains positive across all regions and sectors