According to Senior Vice-President Doug Anderson “With three quarters of similar consumer confidence results, we’re back up to the relatively high levels that we consistently recorded throughout 2006 and 2007. The US is continuing an upward trend, but still lags well behind Canada and still not what it was before the economic crisis. Before the economic crisis, Canadians were more likely to say it was a good time to make a major purchase than to say the Canadian economy would be better next year and beyond. While we see higher-than-normal measures of agreement that the economy is growing, people are still not quite sure where they are on making a major purchase – despite record low interest rates and optimism for the future. Optimism is returning, as is consumer confidence, but the crisis may have instilled a little more caution around spending. The results on making a major purchase beg a question: how will this sentiment change if or when interest rates increase?”