Business moods seen largely holding steady
Reuters is reporting that their Tankan survey of manufacturing businesses remains firm in December. The service sector sentiment meanwhile rose for the second consecutive month. The Reuters tankan survey is intended to track the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey. That survey will be released on December 15.
The Reuters poll surveys 547 large and midsize companies and 251 firms responded.
- The manufacturing index stayed steady at +27, unchanged from November. The decade high was reached in October at 31. It remains toward that high extreme
- the service sector index rose to +34 in December from +31 in November. The gains were led by retailers. This is encouraging for private consumption, as it represents 60% of the economy
The USDJPY is trading at 112.23 and remains between the 100 hour MA 112.503 and the 200 hour MA (below) at 112. 039 (green line in the chart below). The low in trading yesterday stalled just ahead of the 200 hour MA (it was at a lower level) and the 50% of the move up from November 27th. Buyers and sellers are balanced out between the MAs and looking for the next push.
