Japan’s Q4 Growth Boosted By Pre-Tax-Hike Shopping

Japan’s economic growth is expected to have quickened at the end of last year as consumers ramped up spending ahead of a planned sales tax hike, but analysts say that Tokyo may have to inject fresh stimulus to brighten the outlook.

Lukewarm exports and wages growth have undercut some of the economic gains of the past year, and recent turmoil in emerging markets have also raised worries that Japanese shipments may fail to pick up the pace.

The median from a Reuters poll of 26 economists forecast Japan’s economy to have grown 0.7 percent in the October-December quarter from the previous three months.

That would be faster than a 0.3 percent expansion June-September and mark the fifth consecutive quarter of growth. The median translates into an annualized increase of 2.8 percent. The Cabinet Office will release the data on Monday.

via Reuters

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza