Global| Apr 15 2009Japan's Retail Sales Drop
Summary
Japans economy continues to show the strains it is under as retail spending fell again in February. The 0.2% drop is a step-up from the 0.1% drop in January which comes on the heels of December’s 1.7% sales collapse. As a result of [...]
Japans economy continues to show the strains it is under as
retail spending fell again in February. The 0.2% drop is a step-up from
the 0.1% drop in January which comes on the heels of December’s 1.7%
sales collapse. As a result of this sequence of sales results, Japan’s
retail sales in 2009-Q1 are falling at a 6.6% nominal rate. Nominal
sales are off by only about 2.5% Yr/Yr (seasonally adjusted) since
retail sales in Japan only began falling consistently starting in
October of last year. Over three months sales are off at a 7.8% annual
rate; over six months the decline is at a 5.5% annual rate.
In addition industrial output in Japan fell by 9.4% in
February after a sharper drop of 10.1% in January. These ARE
month-to-month drops in overall industrial output. Japan’s industrial
sector is being gutted by the sharp contraction in global trade. Japan
remains an economy under a great deal of pressure.
| Japan Retail Sales Trends | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb-09 | Jan-09 | Dec-08 | 3-mo | 6-mo | 12-mo | Yr-Ago | Q-to-Date | |
| Total SA | -0.2% | -0.1% | -1.7% | -7.8% | -5.5% | -2.5% | 0.0% | -6.6% |
| Not seasonally adjusted | ||||||||
| Total: Nominal | -1.2% | 0.9% | -2.5% | -10.9% | -7.3% | -5.7% | 13.0% | -6.4% |
| Motor Vehicles | -6.1% | 3.7% | 4.3% | 6.1% | -7.7% | -5.4% | 13.1% | 6.7% |
| Food& Beverage | -1.5% | -0.5% | -1.4% | -12.9% | -3.1% | -0.6% | 8.9% | -9.1% |
| Fabric apparel & access | 0.0% | 1.7% | -6.3% | -17.6% | -6.9% | -7.2% | 8.3% | -5.8% |
| Rest of Retail | -0.1% | 1.0% | -4.0% | -11.8% | -9.8% | -8.5% | 16.2% | -7.5% |
Robert Brusca
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Robert A. Brusca is Chief Economist of Fact and Opinion Economics, a consulting firm he founded in Manhattan. He has been an economist on Wall Street for over 25 years. He has visited central banking and large institutional clients in over 30 countries in his career as an economist. Mr. Brusca was a Divisional Research Chief at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY (Chief of the International Financial markets Division), a Fed Watcher at Irving Trust and Chief Economist at Nikko Securities International. He is widely quoted and appears in various media. Mr. Brusca holds an MA and Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University and a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. His research pursues his strong interests in non aligned policy economics as well as international economics. FAO Economics’ research targets investors to assist them in making better investment decisions in stocks, bonds and in a variety of international assets. The company does not manage money and has no conflicts in giving economic advice.
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