Japan October household spending -5.1% vs -3.2% expected

Japan October household spending and labor cash earnings

Weak spending numbers on the hike in the consumption tax.

• Prior +9.5%
• Labor cash earnings +0.5% vs +0.2% expected
• Prior earnings +0.5%
• Real cash earnings +0.1% vs -0.3% expected
• Prior real cash earnings +0.2%

It was tough to forecast the impact of the consumption tax hike but the Reuters Tankan earlier in the weak foreshadowed some softness. It will probably take a few months to work out the baseline.