JAPAN DATA: Japanese firms saw issuing conditions for their
commercial paper tighter than three months ago as funding demand surged
before Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal first half, a followup poll to
the BOJ’s September Tankan shows. The diffusion index (“easy” minus
“severe”), which shows current CP issuing conditions among major firms
that have issued short-term debt at least once in the past two years,
slumped to 29 from a record high of 34 in the previous survey.