Japan: Data paints disappointing economic picture - BBH

The research team at BBH suggests that Japan's end of the month data dump shows why many expect the BOJ to lag behind the ECB as the March CPI was a touch softer than expected at 0.2%, and the core rate was steady at 0.2%.  

Key Quotes

“Excluding food and energy, CPI slipped back into negative territory (-0.1% vs. 0.1%).  Although retail sales ticked up in March (0.2%), overall household spending disappointed.  It fell 1.3% year-over-year, which was more than twice the expected pace, though not as deep as the decline in February.”  

“Industrial output was also weaker than expected, falling 2.1% in March, which gives back more of February's 3.2% gain than expected.  The median expectation was for a 0.8% decline.  Lastly, unemployment was unchanged at 2.8%, though the jobs-to-applicant ratio increased to 1.45 from 1.43.”