Japan Capital Spending y/y for Q4 2018: 5.7% y/y (expected 4.5%)

Japanese data following the earlier inflation numbers

Capital Spending +5.7% y/y

• expected 4.5%, prior was 4.5%

Capital Spending excluding software +5.5% y/y

• expected 3.3%, prior was 2.5%

Company profits -7.0%

• prior was 2.2%

Company sales +3.7%

• prior was 6.0%

Encouraging signs on capex out of japan. If trade wars can subside a little Japanese exporters will benefit. Sales and, especially, profits not quite so positive.