Japan: Consumer confidence deteriorates, drops further into negative territory in December.
Consumer confidence came in at 31.8 in December, down from November’s 33.7. Consequently, the index—which measures consumer expectations about the economy for the next six months—moved further below the 50-threshold, indicating increased pessimism among consumers
The overall deterioration reflected a broad-based fall in sentiment. Consumers became more pessimistic regarding overall livelihood, employment and income growth employment opportunities in the coming six months while willingness to buy durable goods also fell in December compared with the prior month’s survey.