Japan: Consumer confidence logs first increase in nearly two years in October
Consumer sentiment rose from 35.6 in September to 36.2 in October. The print represented first month-on-month gain since November 2017. 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 healthy increase, while income growth rose slightly. Conversely, job prospects continued to decline in October. Regarding inflation, expectations of higher prices declined in October, with 82.6% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (down 5.0 percentage points from last month’s survey).