Monday, October 29, 2007

Japan Retail Sales September 2007

As in August, Japan retail sales in September 2007 managed to eke out a small (0.5%) year on year increase - according to data released by METI today - but as in August this was largely due to a low base effect, since sales in August and September of 2006 were not exactly spectacular (see chart below). Quarter on quarter sales in July-September were down 0.5% on sales in April-June, an outcome

Friday, October 26, 2007

Japan Industrial Output September 2007

Japan's industrial production fell in slightly September from the record August level, as makers of cars and general machinery cut manufacturing following a slowdown in overseas demand. Production was down a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent from a month earlier, when it surged 3.5 percent, according to data from the Trade Ministry in Tokyo today.Claus will probably have a fuller comment on the

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Japan Exports September 2007

Japan's exports grew at the slowest pace in two years in September as shipments to the U.S. dropped back. In total exports rose 6.5 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Japanese Finance Ministry released earlier today. At the same time imports declined for the first time in more than three years, helping the trade surplus widen to yet another record.Shipments to China, the

Thursday, October 18, 2007

David Pilling on Koizumi and Reform

Financial Times journalist David Pilling - who is a very able Japan watcher - has a most interesting piece in the FT today. Since he makes some very simple points in a very clear fashion, I will take the unusual step - for this blog at least - of quoting at some length.David Pilling makes several points which are very well taken. In the first place, he points out that Japan's recent "recovery" is

Friday, October 12, 2007

Japan August 2007 Consumer Confidence Index

Japanese household sentiment stayed stuck hoevering around a three-year low in September, and there is little indication in the latest consumer confidence index that Japanese consumer spending is likely to accelerate any time soon. The sentiment index that measures confidence among households with two or more people edged up to 44.1 points last month from 44 in August, arresting what had been a

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Not Much News from the BOJ

Today's meeting in the BOJ did not bring much news from the eastern shores of Asia as the overnight rate was kept at 0.5%. Relative to the mixed signals from the economic readings on August there is not much new data available apart from Ken Worsley's note that one of the leading economic sentiment indices (Economy watchers) fell for a sixth consecutive month. As for the meeting itself

Japan August 2007 Machinery Orders

Just a brief note on future orders in the key machinery sector. Machine orders declined by a more-than-expected 7.7 percent in August, after gaining 17 percent the month before, according to data from the Cabinet Office in Tokyo today. This is not quite as bleak a picture as it appears, since in fact overseas orders rose 23% over what had been a rather low level in July. To get some idea of where

Monday, October 8, 2007

Japan Economy Watchers Index September 2007

The Economy Watchers index, which is a gauge of Japanese domestic demand based on a survey of workers who deal with consumers, fell for a sixth consecutive month in September, to 42.9, down from 44.1 in August, according to the Japanese Cabinet Office in Tokyo today (Japanese only). A number less than 50 means pessimists outnumber optimists.Today's report, which is the first piece of

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Feldman on Japan

Over at the Japan Economy and News blog Ken Worsley alerts us to a notification he got from Bloomberg about a recent interview conducted by Tom Keene with Morgan Stanley's Robert Alan Feldman on the political and economic situation in Japan. Here at JEW we have on several occasions applauded Feldman's work on Japan and its ageing problem. For my own part many of my notes on Japan have been

Monday, October 1, 2007

September Tankan and August Earnings

The September Tankan index of sentiment at large manufacturers came in with a more or less neutral reading. At 23 it was unchanged from June. Since people were expecting worse this is being generally well received, but beyond that I have little more to say, since we need to await data. Also out today was the Provisional Report of the Monthly Labour Survey for August 2007, and here I do have