Japan: Consumer confidence increases again in November
Consumer sentiment rose from 36.2 in October to 38.7 in November. The print overshot the 36.8 expected by market analysts. 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 markedly less pessimistic about their willingness to buy durable goods. Sentiment regarding overall livelihood also posted a strong gain, while increases in income growth and job prospects were more moderate. Regarding inflation, expectations of higher prices declined in November, with 78.1% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (down 4.5 percentage points from last month’s survey).