Confidence at major Japanese firms falls
TOKYO, Japan (AP) — Confidence at major Japanese manufacturers fell for the third straight quarter as soaring oil prices and fears of a U.S. economic slowdown weighed on the economy, a central bank survey said Tuesday.
The central bank’s closely watched tankan survey showed that the index for large manufacturers’ business sentiment fell to five in June, down from 11 in the March survey. The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable.
The latest result was the lowest in almost five years but slightly better than market predictions for a reading of between two and four. Also positive was big Japanese companies’ plans to boost capital expenditures by 2.4 percent in the fiscal year through March 2009, better than the 1.6 percent decrease they estimated in March.
The decline in confidence, however, was broad-based and hit small- and medium-size firms especially hard.
The index for large non-manufacturers fell slightly to 10 from 12 three months ago.
The index for small manufacturers tumbled to minus 10, while the small non-manufacturers’ index hit minus 20.
