Japan Chart Pack Green shoots after Golden Week holiday Economic activity remained severely damaged by coronavirus containment efforts in early May. In particular, the retail sector usually receives a substantial boost during Golden Week but the number of... 15th May 2020 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack New cases not exploding but economic hit still huge A second wave of virus cases driven by rising infections in Tokyo and Osaka has triggered a major shift in economic behaviour. And while new cases in the two lynchpins of the Japanese economy have... 17th April 2020 · 11 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Coronavirus derailing the economy Surveys and timely data from late-February onwards show that the economy is in the midst of a deep downturn. Cinema sales, restaurant reservations and the Economy Watchers Survey all point towards... 18th March 2020 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Manufacturing recovery hinges on external demand While October’s sales tax hike and Typhoon Hagibis were partly to blame for the sharp drop in manufacturing output in Q4, the bigger picture is that any recovery this year rests on a pick-up in... 17th February 2020 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Squeeze on lending margins will fuel BoJ’s concerns The fall in long-term bank lending rates in November will reinforce the concerns of some BoJ Board members that ultra-loose monetary policy is harming the profitability of private banks. November’s... 16th January 2020 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Tax hike less damaging than previous ones The available data on retail sales, household spending as well as the Bank of Japan’s consumption activity index show that consumer spending fell broadly as much in October as in April 2014, when the... 11th December 2019 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Labour market begins to loosen The jump in the unemployment rate in September is evidence that the labour market has entered a loosening phase. The Bank of Japan reiterated that the output gap was its key gauge of price pressures... 7th November 2019 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Consumer spending will have plunged this month A sharp rise in consumer spending in the run up to the 1st October sales tax hike will almost certainly be followed by a plunge in consumption this month. However, on a quarterly basis the swing in... 17th October 2019 · 9 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Manufacturing sentiment worst since 2011 Business surveys suggest that conditions in manufacturing worsened again in August. The Cabinet Office’s survey-based index of manufacturing conditions fell to its lowest level since 2011, when the... 17th September 2019 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Recovery in output per worker has legs Output per worker increased for the first time since 2017 last quarter. (See Chart 1.) GDP growth was stronger than expected at 1.1% y/y despite a sharp moderation in employment growth. Employment... 21st August 2019 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack What happens if JGB yields hit the floor? The Bank of Japan’s annual purchases of JGBs have dropped to less than half of the official target of “about 80 trillion yen.” (See Chart 1.) Since the launch of yield curve control in September 2016... 17th July 2019 · 10 mins read
Japan Chart Pack Home sales reassuringly unresponsive to sales tax hike A modest drop in home sales recently is a reassuring sign that the October sales tax hike will cause less disruption to the economy than previous tax increases did. Contracts on new property purchases... 17th June 2019 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Rebound in productivity growth has further to run The unexpected 0.5% q/q rise in GDP and the 3% q/q plunge in total hours worked in the first quarter meant that productivity rose at its fastest pace in nearly four years. That makes sense because... 21st May 2019 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Spending boost from sales tax hike to remain muted Private consumption surged ahead of the last two sales tax hikes as households brought forward spending but collapsed as soon as the tax had been raised. The data thus far suggest that consumers have... 22nd April 2019 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Wage growth weakening Major electronics firms and carmakers offered workers smaller base pay increases during this year’s spring wage negotiations than they did last year. (See Chart.) Only a small share of firms... 19th March 2019 · 1 min read
Japan Chart Pack Export volumes should fall this year The export climate index fell to a three-year low in January and suggests that exports will barely grow at all this year. The monthly trade data have been even more downbeat as they showed export... 26th February 2019 · 1 min read
