The data for January - March 2019 economic growth in Japan is here:
The headline is a good beat, but the details are not so impressive at all.
- trade did well, but exports fell while imports collapsed
- consumer spending down
- capex down
- inventories up
- government spending up
The WSJ recap. In brief:
- The growth data showed some impact from the trade frictions in Japan, the world's third-largest economy after the U.S. and China.
- Capital expenditures declined an annualized 1.2%.
- Public investment rose an annualized 6.2% in the quarter following a decline the previous quarter. That helped overcome the slowdown in private investment.
Link here
Reuters quote an analyst :
- The GDP surprised for the better
- that's the main driver behind the stock market's gains
- But the GDP data "is not encouraging, with private consumption and capex declining and exports rising only because weak domestic demand depressed imports"
- Monday's market advance "is purely technical, few are buying because they think the economy is doing well."
