10:37 AM EDT, 07/15/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Bank of Canada on Monday released its Business Outlook Survey for the Second Quarter of 2024, which was conducted by in-person, video and phone interviews from May 9 to 29, 2024. The Business Leaders' Pulse is conducted online every month; this report presents results from April, May and June 2024.

In an Overview, BoC noted:

- Firms' sales outlooks are mostly unchanged from last quarter and remain more pessimistic than average. Businesses tied to discretionary spending reported particularly weak sales expectations, while those tied to essential spending see population growth continuing to benefit their sales.

- Investment spending plans also remain below average. Weak demand, elevated interest rates, uncertainty about the business environment and the high cost of machinery and equipment were cited as discouraging investment. In this context, investment spending has become increasingly concentrated on upkeep and repair rather than expansion or improvements in productivity.

- The share of firms reporting labour shortages is near survey lows. Still, few firms plan to reduce headcounts. Businesses attribute easing labour market conditions to a weaker economy and to rapid population growth.

- Businesses expect the growth of their input prices and selling prices to slow, suggesting that inflation will continue to decline over the coming year. Most firms that made abnormally large price increases in the past 12 months do not plan to do so again in the coming year.

- Firms' expectations for inflation fell in June and are now in the Bank of Canada's inflation-control range.