Results from the Business Outlook Survey and the Business Leaders’ Pulse reveal that firms’ outlooks and intentions remain subdued despite a gradual improvement in sentiment. Expectations for growth in domestic and export sales are still soft. Most firms do not plan to increase staffing, and investment intentions are restrained. While businesses continue to expect cost increases from tariffs and trade uncertainty, weak demand limits their ability to pass these costs through to prices. One-year-ahead inflation expectations remain below the peak reached earlier in the trade conflict.

Results of the third-quarter 2025 survey show that tariffs and trade tensions continue to affect consumers' perceptions about their financial health and spending plans. The CSCE indicator rose modestly from its most recent low, improved by slight gains in financial health and household spending intentions. But perceptions of labour market conditions deteriorated further, driven in part by a sharp drop in job-finding prospects for public sector workers. Consumers’ short-term inflation expectations remain above their pre-pandemic averages, and expectations for longer-term inflation have picked up again.

In April, the Bank of Canada and 51 other central banks and monetary authorities conducted the latest triennial survey of turnover activity in the foreign exchange (FX) and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets in their respective countries.

Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers discusses how productivity growth can boost Canada’s prosperity and resilience. She also outlines how upcoming financial sector reforms are designed to increase competition.