Sentiment among Japanese merchants sank to the lowest in more than three years, underscoring deepening concerns over the economic outlook at home and abroad as the impact from U.S. tariffs begins to filter into the economy.
A gauge of confidence among store managers, taxi drivers and others who interact directly with Japanese consumers dropped 2.5 points to 42.6 in April, according to the Cabinet Office’s Economy Watchers survey released Monday. A reading below 50 signals that pessimists outnumber optimists.
The figure came in below economists’ forecast of 44.6 and marked the weakest reading since February 2022, when businesses were still grappling with pandemic-related restrictions.
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