Canadian confidence is climbing the wall of worry.

Readers should note that the fieldwork for this tracking was completed on the Thursday the trade talks with the US broke down. Next week will be our first preliminary read on possible changes to consumer sentiment.

As of last Thursday, Canadians are feeling better about where the economy is headed, even if they are not yet feeling much richer themselves. The latest Bloomberg-Nanos Canadian Confidence Index edged up to 52.81, remaining above the neutral threshold of 50 and within striking distance of its 2026 high. Expectations are improving faster than lived experience, suggesting households see reasons for optimism, but not yet evidence of prosperity.

The gap between confidence and circumstance is striking. Just 13% of Canadians say they are financially better off than a year ago, while 35% report being worse off. Yet expectations for the economy and real estate values have strengthened, pushing the Expectations Index above 51 and helping lift the broader measure of confidence.

What is sustaining optimism? Job security remains comparatively resilient, with nearly six in ten Canadians describing their employment situation as secure or somewhat secure. Meanwhile, sentiment on real estate has improved, reinforcing a belief that the economic environment may be stabilising after a year marked by trade uncertainty and persistent affordability pressures.

For this report and other Nanos data points visit www.nanos.co.

The BNCCI is produced by the Nanos Research Corporation, headquartered in Canada, which operates in Canada and the United States. The data is based on

random telephone interviews with 1,000 Canadian consumers (land- and cell-lines), using a four week rolling average of 250 respondents each week, 18 years of age and over. The random sample of 1,000 respondents may be weighted using the latest census information for Canada.

The interviews are compiled into a four week rolling average of 1,000 interviews where each week, the oldest group of 250 interviews is dropped and a new group of 250 interviews is added. The views of 1,000 respondents are compiled into a diffusion index from 0 to 100. A score of 50 on the diffusion index indicates that positive and negative views are a wash while scores above 50 suggest net positive views, while those below 50 suggest net negative views in terms of the economic mood of Canadians.

A random telephone survey of 1,022 consumers in Canada is accurate 3.1 percentage points, plus or minus, 19 times out of 20. This report is based on the four waves of tracking ending August 21, 2026.

Data Summary RELEASED for August 21st, 2026

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