Japan: Consumers end 2019 on a less pessimistic note
Consumer sentiment to 39.1 in December from 38.7 in November. 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 living standards also posted a strong gain, while increases in income growth and job prospects were more moderate. Regarding inflation, expectations of higher prices increased in December, with 78.8% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (down 0.7 percentage points from last month’s survey).