Japan: Consumer confidence falls to over five-year low in July
Consumer sentiment declined from 38.7 in June to 37.8 in July. The print represented the lowest reading since April 2014 and was below the 38.4 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 noticeably more pessimistic about their willingness to buy durable goods. Sentiment regarding overall livelihood, income growth and job prospects also posted a smaller decline in the month. Regarding inflation, expectations of higher prices fell in July, with 87.1% of respondents expecting prices to trend higher (down 0.8 percentage points from last month’s survey).