Japan: Consumer confidence eases to an over two-year low in January
Consumer sentiment fell from 42.7 in December to 41.9 in January, marking the lowest reading since December 2016. The print disappointed market expectations of a softer fall to 42.4. 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 job prospects, and their willingness to buy durable goods. Households confidence about their overall livelihood and income growth waned somewhat. Regarding prices, expectations of higher prices rose slightly in January, with 84.1% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (up 0.9 percentage points from last month’s survey).