Tag - economic-indicators

 
 

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Garments at a Shein Group pop-up store inside a Forever-21 store in the Times Square neighborhood of New York on Nov. 10, 2023
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 31, 2024
Cars and online retailers outperform as China exports disappoint
The sectors represented the fastest expansion among China's economy, with an export value of at least $10 billion.
Industrial output in December rose a seasonally-adjusted 1.8% from the previous month, following a 0.9% decline in November, with the industry ministry maintaining its basic assessment that it is fluctuating indecisively.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 31, 2024
Japan’s factory output gains to support economy’s patchy rebound
The rebound may potentially remove a hurdle for the Bank of Japan as it mulls the timing of a likely interest rate hike.
The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in December, government data shows.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 30, 2024
Japan job market remains tight, keeping hopes for wage hikes
The Bank of Japan is watching the labor market closely as it seeks evidence of a virtuous cycle linking rising wages with demand-led price gains.
Core inflation in Tokyo slowed below the central bank's 2% target to hit the lowest level in nearly two years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 26, 2024
Tokyo’s sharp cooling of inflation complicates BOJ’s policy outlook
Tokyo consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 1.6% in January, compared with 2.1% growth in December.
The value of Japan's exports rose at the fast pace in a year in December, propelled by shipments to China growing for the first time in over a year and record sales to the United States.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 24, 2024
Strong December exports boost odds of a return to growth last quarter
A return to growth would make it easier for the Bank of Japan to end its negative rate policy.
Japan's core inflation stayed above the central bank's 2% target in December but slowed for a second straight month, reinforcing expectations it will be in no hurry to phase out its massive monetary stimulus.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2024
Japan’s slowing inflation supports case for BOJ to wait longer
Growth in consumer prices excluding fresh food slowed to 2.3% in December from a year earlier.
Japan's core machinery orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, fell more than expected in November.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2024
Japan's core machinery orders fell more than forecast in November
Capital spending is one of the key drivers for Japan's economy and a major indicator of business confidence.
Japan's input inflation was flat in December, the weakest showing in almost three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Japan’s input inflation flatlines for weakest result since 2021
Input prices were unchanged last month from a year earlier, the weakest showing in almost three years as the yen’s recent gains helped cap import costs.
Corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of at least ¥10 million increased 35.2% in 2023 from the previous year.
BUSINESS
Jan 15, 2024
Business failures in Japan hit eight-year high in 2023
Failures rose in all 10 surveyed sectors for the first time in 31 years, due to rising prices, deepening labor shortages and the start of repayments of COVID relief loans.
Foreign visitors learn how to make sushi in a cooking class in Tokyo's Asakusa district. Japan's services balance swung back into the black in November, thanks to increased spending by foreign visitors to the country.
BUSINESS
Jan 12, 2024
Japan logged record ¥1.93 trillion current account surplus in November
The current account surplus, one of the widest gauges of international trade, expanded 8.7% from a year earlier.
The yen's exchange rate against the dollar on Wednesday. The yen declined from ¥103 against the dollar in 2020 to as little as ¥151 in late 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2024
Is a weak yen good for Japan’s economy?
The yen's fast depreciation is boosting overseas investment and sectors like tourism, but could also trigger inflation. In response, the BOJ should raise interest rates.
Japanese workers' real wages kept shrinking for a 20th month in November, raising fresh alarm for the sustainability of the country's economic recovery as firms enter the period of annual pay negotiations with labor unions.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Japan’s slower wage growth adds to reasons for BOJ to hold
Nominal cash earnings for workers rose 0.2% from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5% increase in October, the labor ministry said.
Consumer price gains in Tokyo slowed for a second month in December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2024
Tokyo inflation slows as thrifty consumers curb some outlays
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.1% in the capital, decelerating from 2.3% in November.
Japan's labor productivity per person in 2022 was the lowest calculated among the Group of Seven advanced economies since 1970, according to a report by the Japan Productivity Center.
BUSINESS
Jan 8, 2024
Japan's labor productivity ranked 30th among 38 OECD members in 2022
Measured by the worth of goods or services a worker can produce per hour, labor productivity totaled $52.30 in Japan.
Japan's industrial production fell 0.9% in November from the previous month, weighed down by a decline in auto production.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 28, 2023
Japan's November factory output falls on weaker autos
Industrial production fell 0.9% in November from the previous month, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) showed on Thursday.
Business service prices for hotels rose 51.8% in November compared with the previous year, on the back of a surge in inbound tourism following the lifting of pandemic controls and domestic demand for travel.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2023
Japan's service price growth holds steady, maintaining 30-year high
Prices for services rising at the fastest pace since April 1992 will likely fuel speculation that the Bank of Japan may normalize policy in coming months.
An electronic board displays various companies' share prices at a business district in Tokyo in October.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 26, 2023
Japan’s labor demand holds steady in positive sign for wages
The job-to-applicants ratio eased a tad to 1.28, meaning there were 128 jobs offered for every 100 applicants, the labor ministry reported.
Japan's core consumer prices rose 2.5% in November from a year earlier, marking the slowest pace of increase in over a year in a sign of easing cost-push pressures in the world's third-largest economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 22, 2023
Japan’s cooling inflation also offers encouraging signs for BOJ
Consumer prices excluding fresh food items rose 2.5% from a year earlier as falls in energy costs deepened and gains in processed food prices eased.
Japan's real economic growth rate for fiscal 2023 ending in March 2024 is estimated at 1.6%, up from 1.3% seen half a year ago.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 21, 2023
Japanese government lifts economic growth estimates
The real economic growth rate for fiscal 2023 ending in March 2024 is estimated at 1.6%, up from 1.3% seen half a year ago.
Some analysts believe Japan's stock market will be fragile in the coming months due to such factors as weak consumer spending and political instability.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 20, 2023
Japanese stocks expected to face early hurdles in 2024
Analysts see the nation’s equities indexes struggling over the next few months due to factors such as a stronger yen and weak consumer spending.

Longform

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