Japan: Consumer confidence inches down in November
Consumer sentiment decreased from 43.0 in October to 42.9 in November, marking the lowest reading since December 2016. The print disappointed market expectations of a rise to 43.2. The consumer confidence index measures consumers’ expectations for the next six months on a scale of 0–100; a figure of 100 indicates that all respondents see their living standards improving.
Consumers were noticeably more pessimistic about their overall livelihood prospects, and their confidence about the job market also waned somewhat. On the other hand, consumers were more optimistic regarding their outlook on income growth, while their willingness to buy durable goods was unchanged compared to the previous month. Regarding prices, expectations of higher prices increased in November, with 84.5% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (up 1.6 percentage points from last month’s survey).