Japan August consumer confidence index 32.5 vs 30.2 prior

• Prior 30.2

That’s a light bounce in consumer sentiment on the month but it comes after a continued drop since the turn of the year. Looking at the details, households continue to expect prices to “go up” in the next year with 93.8% of those surveyed anticipating that – down just 0.1% from July. That isn’t too comforting as it could be a gauge that consumption may weaken, as has been the case in other countries where inflation has been a problem (even if it isn’t that big of a problem in Japan at the moment).