Japanese earnings data:

  • Prior was -0.1% y/y
  • Real cash earnings +0.6% vs -0.4% y/y expected
  • Prior real cash earnings -0.5% y/y
  • Regular earnings +0.5% y/y vs +0.1% prior
  • Overtime hours unchanged vs -2% y/y prior

This is welcome news for the Bank of Japan. They've shifted to a more-dovish stance in the past two weeks but they likely didn't see this coming.

Within the data there was a 14.2% y/y rise in bonus payments and that's a big part of the jump.