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Economy in Brief
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell Again in July
The Conference Board's Composite Leading Economic Indicators Index fell 0.4% m/m...
U.S. Philly Fed General Activity Index Back to Positive Reading in August
The current general activity diffusion index rose nearly 19 points in August to 6.2...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Slightly Lower
Initial claims for unemployment insurance went down 2,000 in the week ended August 13 to 250,000...
Inflation Rages in EMU and Hovers Globally
Inflation in the European Monetary Union in July finalizes at 8.8% year-over-year...
U.S. Retail Sales Hold Steady in July; Nonauto Sales Rise
Total retail sales remained unchanged during July (10.3% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Robert Brusca August 30, 2007
Japan retail sales are mostly lower across the board.
Special factors have hit the Japanese consumer to be sure. There was a radiation leak at a nuclear plant that turned out to be worse that was first reported. And then a power shortage hit. Bad weather has interrupted the consumer. But through it all wages have remained stagnant and the consumers fundamentals have also failed to improve. So the sharp drop in consumer spending is not simply something to dismiss as due to some of these rogue factors that have haunted the consumer. The consumer may be feeling real pressure. In addition Japan is closely linked to the US economy and next month it will be interesting to see if Japanese moods and spending patterns are affected by the financial turbulence we have seen. With such weak spending it is hard to see why the BOJ would still be considering a rate hike.
Jul-07 | Jun-07 | May-07 | 3-mo | 6-mo | 12-mo | Yr-Ago | |
Total | -2.6% | -0.4% | 0.4% | -10.4% | -6.0% | -2.1% | 0.0% |
Motor Vehicles | -0.4% | -2.5% | -0.1% | -11.3% | -6.9% | -4.8% | -11.1% |
Food & Beverage | -0.8% | -1.2% | 0.1% | -7.3% | -2.5% | -0.7% | -0.4% |
Fabric apparel & access | -8.2% | 0.4% | 0.0% | -27.7% | -11.8% | -10.0% | -8.6% |
Rest of Retail | -3.4% | 0.4% | 0.7% | -9.0% | -6.9% | -1.1% | 4.5% |