Japan – Industrial Production January (preliminary reading): 4.0% m/m (expected 2.8%) + retail trade data

• Industrial Production m/m for January (preliminary reading): 4.0% (vs. expected 2.8%, prior was 0.9%)
• Fastest m/m gain since June of 2011
• Industrial Production y/y for January (preliminary): 10.6% (vs. expected 9.4%, prior was 7.1%)

• Retail Trade for January y/y: 4.4% (vs. expected +3.8%, prior 2.5% – revised from 2.6%)
• For retail sales (y/y), this is the quickest annual rise since April 2012 (ahead of the sales tax increase due in April 2014). earlier, household spending was very strong, too … but like I said there: it would seem spending ahead of the sales tax hike due in April is exceeding expectations … makes one wonder what spending will do after April though…
• Retail Trade for January m/m: 1.4% (vs. expected +1.3%, prior-1.2%, revised from -1.1%)

Earlier we had CPI data, and household spending and labor market data

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Strong industrial production data, strong retails sales and household spending too (see links)