Dour Japanese data yet again. Info via Reuters report.
Real wages:
- down 2.2% year-on-year in December, the biggest drop since a 2.3% fall in May 2020
- For the whole of 2021, real wages were flat, snapping two years of declines after a 1.2% fall in 2020 and a 1.0% drop in 2019
Nominal total cash earnings slipped 0.2% in December, posting their first fall in 10 months, after a revised 0.8% gain in November, while regular pay was up 0.2%
- Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, rose 4.8% in December from the same period a year earlier, rising for the ninth straight month.
- Special payments, which include the discretionary winter bonuses that firms will slash when they face headwinds, lost 0.9% in December after a revised 6.9% increase in November.
On the household spending data:
- -0.2% in December y/y vs. expected of +0.3% and prior of -1.3%
- +0.1% m/m (vs expected 0.7% and prior -1.2%)
USD/JPY is barely awake:
