Retail sales for January is out at the same time on a separate post (a big miss)
January industrial production (preliminary):
-6.6% m/m (first drop m/m in 4 months) and ditto on the big miss
- expected is -4.0%, prior was +2.9%
+2.7% y/y
- expected +5.3%, prior was +4.4%
Outlooks:
Japanese manufacturers see February output +9.0% m/m
- previous forecast: +5.7%
And see March output at -2.7% m/m
As I posted earlier ... While global demand has remained firm, yen appreciation may be a factor in the decline
expected (a higher yen erodes Japanese exporter competitiveness)
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- production plans project an increase for February, and since January production plans do not call for a wide-ranging decline in production in the manufacturing sector as a whole, we think the decline in production in January will be a one-off phenomenon. As such, even if there is a sharp fall in production in January, we do not think it would warrant special attention.
(via Nomura, bolding mine)
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And ....yet to come in Japan today ...
0110 GMT - Bank of Japan JGB purchases
1-3, 3-5, 10-25, 25+ years the target in today's scheduled operation