JAPAN DATA: Summer bonuses to be paid by private firms this year are
expected to decline for second year in a row, data released by some
think tanks showed. Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, for example,
forecasts bonuses to fall 0.9% on year in 2012, after -0.9% in 2011 and
+1.0% in 2010. Private firms’ current profits in the second half of
fiscal 2011, which will have a major impact on the summer bonuses, were
“in severe conditions” amid the strong yen, slowing overseas economy and
flooding in Thailand, the think tank said.