A big miss for this data, a weak Japanese consumer again?

Comes in at -1.6% y/y against:

  • expected of +1.5%
  • prior +2.8%

It has been to and fro around zero in the past year or so.

For the m/m, down 4.6%. Japan's economic recovery remains patchy. Yesterday we had indications from BOJ Governor Kuroda of no change in policy at all.

As is often the case with Japanese data, yen is doing very little.