Tankan Index Hits Four Year Low

Just to follow up briefly on yesterday's post, the results of the latest Tankan index of manufacturer sentiment is now out, and it shows that confidence among major Japanese manufacturers fell to its lowest level in more than four years as the plunging dollar in this quarter. The closely watched quarterly central bank "tankan" survey, released this morning, showed a fallll to 11, eight points

Japan Industrial Output February 2008, Updated

Japan's manufacturers cut production for the second consecutive month in February, and output fell month on month by 1.2 percent from January, when it also dropped by 2.2 percent, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The seasonally adjusted index is now, as can be seen in the chart, at its lowest level since last July when Japan was suffering from earthquake issues. This means that Japanese

Japan Inflation and Unemployment February 2008

Japan's consumer prices rose again in February, according to the general index, while the unemployment rate increased for the first time in five months, reinforcing concerns that the economy maybe heading into a recession. Core prices, which exclude fruit, fish and vegetables, climbed 1 percent in February from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today in Tokyo. Core prices started rising

Japan Exports February 2008

Japan's export growth resumed its upward march in February as demand from emerging markets, and especially in Asia, continued to surge strongly. Exports, which accounted for over half of the Japanese economy's growth last quarter, climbed 8.7 percent from a year earlier after increasing 7.6 percent in January, according to the latest data from the Finance Ministry in Tokyo today. If we look at

Ms Watanabe Not Easily Deterred

As Bloomberg puts it on their news site sometimes markets roar and sometimes they whisper. In the last couple of weeks they have certainly roared as the crisis in financial markets have haunted the steps of Wall Street bankers and the Fed. At this point in time we are wearily waiting in Europe to see whether (or more precisely when and where) the fangs of the credit crunch will take hold. In the

The BOJ Debacle, better than Shakespeare

As most of our readers without a doubt have discovered most of the action is taking place in the US at the moment as the credit turmoil has moved from sporadid skirmishes to a full blown bataille. However, the US is not the only place where the sh't is waiting to hit the fan although of course you might say that the fan is already blowing at full force in the US. The issues facing Japan at this

Japan Consumer Confidence February 2008

Japan's consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level in five years in February. The Index fell to 36.1 in February, down from 37.5 in January, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo this morning. Confidence among consumers hasn't been this low since March 2003, when the unemployment rate was close to a postwar high.