The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged on Thursday and expressed more optimism on the economy. From AFP/CNA
The Bank of Japan left its key interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent in a unanimous decision by the eight-member policy board, it said in a statement...
"Japan's economic conditions are showing signs of recovery," the BoJ statement said. "Public investment is increasing, and exports and production are also increasing."
"On the other hand, business fixed investment is declining mainly reflecting weak corporate profits," it added.
Private consumption "remains generally weak amid the worsening employment and income situation."
The comments were slightly more upbeat than the BoJ's statement last month that economic conditions had "stopped worsening."
Thursday's economic reports supported the BoJ's more upbeat assessment. From Bloomberg:
Japan’s manufacturers turned optimistic for the first time in almost two years and demand for services rose for a second month in July as the world’s second- largest economy emerged from its deepest postwar recession...
Sentiment among large manufacturers rose to 15.5 points this quarter, the highest reading since the survey began in 2004, a joint survey by the Cabinet Office and Finance Ministry showed today. The tertiary index, a measure of service demand, advanced 0.6 percent from June, the Trade Ministry said.
Another central bank decision on Thursday came from the Swiss National Bank, which also announced that it was leaving interest rates unchanged. Bloomberg reports:
The Swiss central bank left its key interest rate near zero and signaled it will continue to counter an appreciation of the franc to ward off deflation as the economy shows signs of recovery.
The Swiss National Bank, led by Jean-Pierre Roth, left the three-month Libor target at 0.25 percent at today’s quarterly monetary policy assessment, as predicted by all 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. While the SNB boosted its economic and inflation forecasts, it will also keep buying corporate bonds if necessary to ease credit conditions.
Elsewhere in Europe, there were mixed economic data.
Bloomberg reports the data from the euro area.
Exports from the 16-nation euro region rose a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent from June, when they gained 0.9 percent, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. July imports contracted 0.3 percent and the trade surplus jumped to 6.8 billion euros ($10 billion), the largest since 2004, from 2.3 billion euros in June. Construction output fell 2 percent in July, a separate report showed.
In the UK, Reuters reports that retail sales were flat in August.
Retail sales stalled in August, confounding expectations of a small rise as clothing sales exerted the biggest downward impact, official data showed on Thursday...
In addition, July's previously reported monthly gain of 0.4 percent was revised down to a rise of 0.2 percent.
However, in the US, the run of positive economic data continued on Thursday. Bloomberg reports:
Housing starts in the U.S. rose to the highest level in nine months and manufacturing in the Philadelphia region expanded more than forecast, adding to evidence an economic recovery is taking hold.
Housing starts rose 1.5 percent last month to an annual rate of 598,000, the Commerce Department said today in Washington, led by construction of multifamily dwellings. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its general economic index jumped to 14.1 in September from 4.2 in August...
The number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week, a sign the labor market is deteriorating at a slower pace.
Applications dropped by 12,000 to 545,000 in the week ended Sept. 12, from a revised 557,000 the week before, Labor Department data showed today. The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance rose the prior week, to 6.23 million.
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