Latest data released by Japan's METI - 13 July 2020
- Prior -6.0%; revised to -7.7%
Slight delay in the release by the source. The statistic basically measures the total value of services purchased by Japanese businesses over the month.
After the sharp slump seen in April, business activity is seen slumping further in May and that just reaffirms the struggle faced by the Japanese economy in Q2 amid state of emergency measures in key prefectures at the time.
The year-on-year or annual change shows that activity is down by nearly 16% in May as opposed to the roughly 13% drop seen back in April.
June should show a rebound in activity but underlying demand should remain considerably weak - as is everywhere else - and we'll get a better idea of that in July and August.
