BoC publishes Winter Survey
Responses to the BoC winter survey suggest that the global economic outlook and concerns about demand continue to weigh on firms’ expectations for business activity. While the indicator of past sales activity has held up, the balance of opinion on future sales has turned slightly negative, as firms in Western Canada expect sales growth to slow from the recent strong pace and those elsewhere gener- ally expect growth to remain modest. Firms still expect to increase investment and employment, although the balances of opinion remain below the high levels reached earlier in the year.
Over the past two and a half years, the U.S. economy has been gradually recovering from the recent deep recession. While conditions have certainly improved over this period, the pace of the recovery has been frustratingly slow, particularly from the perspective of the millions of workers who remain unemployed or underemployed. Moreover, the sluggish expansion has left the economy vulnerable to shocks. Indeed, last year, supply chain disruptions stemming from the earthquake in Japan, a surge in the prices of oil and other commodities, and spillovers from the European debt crisis risked derailing the recovery. 
Construction was down 0.3% as both residential and non-residential building construction decreased. Engineering and repair work was unchanged in November. In the residential sector, construction of single-family dwellings continued to decline. In non-residential building construction, the decrease in institutional and commercial buildings outweighed the increase in industrial buildings. 
