Reuters Tankan is a monthly survey that seeks to track the Bank of Japan's tankan quarterly survey

  • Japan manufacturers index +4 in October, unchanged from September
  • Non-manufacturers index +24 in October vs +23 in September
  • Manufacturers January index seen at +5, non-manufacturers +20

The survey covered familiar ground:

  • prospect of higher U.S. interest rates has weakened the Japanese yen, hurting the country's terms of trade
  • concerns about a spike in oil prices also weighing on sentiment
  • downside risks from the global economy have weighed on confidence
  • rising cost of doing business due to surging raw materials prices that were aggravated by a weak yen

Some of the highlighted comments from firms:

  • "Our business conditions are not so good, because there's a divide among those who benefit from recovery in car production and those who suffer from China's overall economic slowdown,"
  • "Uncertainty around the outlook is high,"

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Reuters poll of 502 large- and mid-sized companies

  • 249 firms responded
  • respondents spoke on the condition of anonymity
  • Reuters Tankan indexes are calculated by subtracting the percentage of pessimistic respondents from optimistic ones. A positive reading means optimists outnumber pessimists.
Reuters tankan Non-manufacturing index 11 October 2023

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