• Home
• About/Contact
• Economic Reports
• Research
• Advertising

• Business
• Economics
• Reports
• Finance
• Marketing
• Politics
• Real Estate
• Services
• Retail
• Tech

Subscribe

Cabinet Office: January-March GDP up 4.9% annualized

On Thursday, the Cabinet Office announced that Japan’s GDP had risen an annualized 4.9% in the January-March quarter. This result was lower than the 5.5% gain forecasted by a Bloomberg survey and the 5.9% forecasted by a Dow Jones survey. Real GDP has now risen in each of the past four quarters.

Nominal GDP grew 1.2% on the quarterly basis, the largest increase seen in a decade, on the back of export gains. According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, exports to Asia rose 12.3% in January-March from the previous quarter in seasonally adjusted terms and those to the European Union rose 5.6%, while shipments to the U.S. declined 1.4%. Read more

Economy Watchers Survey up 2.4 points in April

On Thursday, the Cabinet Office released the results of its monthly Economy Watchers Survey for April, and the results showed a 2.4 point increase over March to 42.4 points.

The Economy Watchers survey is measured as an index with a score above 50 indicating a positive view of the economy and a score below 50 representing a pessimistic overall view. The survey measures sentiment amongst taxi drivers, restaurant staff, barbers, and other service industry workers sensitive to frontline economic conditions. Read more

Japan’s Consumer confidence up for third consecutive month in March

According to data released today by the Cabinet Office, Japan’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by 1.1 point to 40.9 in March, showing an increase for the third consecutive month¹. The 40.9 score was the highest seen since October 2007, when the index stood at 42.8. The index also crossed the 40 point mark for the first time since October of last year, after this past winter’s dip below 40.

The consumer confidence index itself contains five scores, each of which is considered positive when above 50, and pessimistic when below the 50 mark. Here’s a breakdown for March figures, with the change from the previous month: Read more

Japan consumer confidence rises for second straight month in February

According to data released yesterday by the Cabinet Office, Japan’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by 0.8 points to 39.8 in February, showing an increase for the second consecutive month. The last time the Consumer Confidence Index showed an increase for two months in a row was in August 2009, when it hit 40.1 points. Read more

Consumer confidence index inches up in January

According to data released Friday by the Cabinet Office, Japan’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 39.0 in January, up from 37.6 in in December. January’s rise, however, did not make up for the drop seen in December, as the index remained below the 39.5 level seen in November 2009.

The consumer confidence index itself contains five scores, each of which is considered positive when above 50, and pessimistic when below the 50 mark. Here’s a breakdown for January figures, with the change from the previous month: Read more

Japan Consumer Confidence up for eighth straight month in August

According to data released Friday by the Cabinet Office, Japan’s Consumer Confidence Index rose to 40.1 in August, up from 39.4 in July. August was the eighth consecutive month in which the consumer confidence index has shown a rise.

The consumer confidence index itself contains five scores, each of which is considered positive when above 50, and pessimistic when below the 50 mark. The overall score of 40.1 represents the first time since October 2007 that the index has come in above 40 points. Here’s a breakdown for August figures, with the change from the previous month: Read more

Cabinet Office: Economy Watchers Survey up for seventh straight month in July

Earlier today, the Cabinet Office released the results of its monthly Economy Watchers Survey, and the results showed a 0.2 point increase to 42.4 points.

The Economy Watchers survey is measured as an index with a score above 50 indicating a positive view of the economy and a score below 50 representing a pessimistic overall view. The survey measures sentiment amongst taxi drivers, restaurant staff, barbers, and other service industry workers sensitive to frontline economic conditions. The index itself has now been below the 50 mark for the past 27 months. Read more

Japan’s consumer confidence rises for sixth straight month in June

After bottoming out at 26.2 in December, Japan’s Consumer Confidence Index has slowly been creeping upward over the past six months. According to data released by the Cabinet Office today, the Consumer Confidence Index reached 37.6 points in June, up from 35.7 in May. This is the highest reading seen since December 2008, and the index has now risen for six straight months.

The consumer confidence index itself contains five scores, each of which is considered positive when above 50, and pessimistic when below the 50 mark. Here’s a breakdown for June figures, with the change from the previous month: Read more

Core machinery orders at record lows, bankruptcies still soaring

Earlier today, the Cabinet Office announced that core machinery orders in Japan fell 3.0% in May, to 668.2 billion yen. Although this is less than the 5.8% drop seen in April, it still means that machinery orders have fallen to a new all-time low. May was the third month in a row that core machinery orders have fallen.

Clearly, the Japanese economy is not performing as many expect it to, as Nikkei and Dow Jones polls of economists had predicted a 2.0% rise in May core machinery orders. Capital spending still appears to have no predicatoable recovery date in sight, and the figures announced today are going to have a further negative pull on Japan’s second quarter GDP figures. Read more

Cabinet Office data showing recovery?

Earlier today, the Cabinet Office released its Index of Business Conditions report for April. Data showed the Coincident Index moving up 1.0 points to 85.8 points, for the first increase seen in 11 months. Based on this information, the Cabinet Office upgraded the language in its monthly report for the first time in nine months (they were behind the curve) to say that signs of the economy ”ceasing to fall” are seen rather than that the economy is ”worsening.”

Media sources were quick to herald the results. The Nikkei announced that the 1.0 point rise in the coincident index was “adding to signs that the economy has been recovering from the worst recession since the end of World War II.” Read more

Next Page »

Copyright © 2006-2010 Japan Economy News

Privacy Policy | Disclaimer