Japanese consumer sentiment drops in December for third straight month

[websjapan]

suddenly, recently i've noticed a lot more closed shops and offices.

looks like we're heading for tighter belts - just as IE7 comes out. trust Gates to screw things up for us.



http://mdn.mainichi.jp/business/news...bu014000c.html

TOKYO (AP) -- Consumer sentiment in Japan worsened in December, falling for the third straight month, the government said Friday.

The index for the Cabinet Office's consumer confidence survey, which measures consumers' economic outlook for the coming six months, fell 1.8 points from the previous month to a four-year-low of 38.0 in December. It was at 39.8 in November.

Consumer spending makes up about 55 percent of Japan's economy. Fears have been growing recently about negative effects on the Japanese economy from the U.S. credit crunch and the plunge in stock values on Wall Street.

[touchring]

Japan's consumer market is as large as the UK, and both combined is nearly half of the US. Slowdown on both markets is going to drag exports.

[Rubber Duck]

Originally Posted by touchring

Japan's consumer market is as large as the UK, and both combined is nearly half of the US. Slowdown on both markets is going to drag exports.

Don't worry. Bush thinks he can patch the holes as fast as they appear and keeping inflating the bubble.

[touchring]

It's no use, the Europeans won't fall for it again. Who is going to buy those mortgage securities? And the Asians were never into those securities in the first place. The market has changed structurally and it will take a radical reform to bring back confidence. This reform can only be done when prices start to rise again.