Japan GDP for Q2 - advance

GDP (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary, up 1.0% q/q ... its just the prelim, but a good beat if confirmed

  • expected 0.6%, prior 0.4%, revised higher from 0.3%
  • So that's a 6th consecutive quarter of expansion in GDP, the first time in more than 10 years

GDP Annualized (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary, 4.0% y/y. Ditto, huge beat.

  • expected 2.5%, prior 1.5, revised much higher from 1.0%
  • best result (fastest growth) since the first quarter of 2015

GDP Nominal (seasonally adjusted) for Q2, preliminary 1.1% q/q

  • expected 0.7%, prior -0.3%

GDP Deflator y/y for Q2, preliminary, -0.4% ... BOJ won't like this

  • expected -0.5%, prior -0.8%

GDP Consumer Spending y/y for Q2, preliminary 0.9% q/q

  • expected 0.5%, prior was 0.4% revised from 0.3%
  • The jump in this is the fastest since the January to March quarter of 2014

GDP Business Spending y/y for Q2, preliminary 2.4% q/q

  • expected 1.2%, prior was 0.9%, revised from 0.6%
  • The jump in this is the fastest since the January to March quarter of 2014 also

As is so often the case with Japanese data there is little immediate response from the yen.

I posted in the comments, below:

  • The growth data is good, argues for less need for expansion in stimulus policies
  • The inflation data is a huge miss for the BOJ - argues for expansion in stimulus
  • Keep listening to Japanese officials, noises have been made about changing the BOJ inflation target, I've posted on this in previous weeks. And changes in JGB purchase targets (I've posted on this quite often too)