• The Markit/JMMA Manufacturing PMI for August in at 52.2 (vs. prior 50.7) showed signs of improvement.
• The Overall Household Spending y/y for July: 0.1% (vs. expected 0.3%) is a disappointment, coming well below what was the consensus economist expectation. A bright sign, though, was it rose 0.9% m/m
• Jobless rate and job-to-applicant ratio both better.
• The raft of CPI figures are all on or better than expectations, which is going to be encouragement for the BOJ and the administration.
• Apart from the poor household spending data (and thats an important ‘apart from’) these are not a bad set of results for ‘Abenomics’. The household spending is a worry, though – you could reasonably expect it to fall further is sales taxes were hiked.