Currently Japan is the third largest country in the World GDP ranking, after U.S. and China. The GDP of Japan has been declining since the late 1990s. This decrease is due to the low real growth rate and full deflation. In recent years, there is an assumption that the economic rise cannot be felt even if the GDP grows in Japan.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is the broadest standard of economic activity, and is an important indicator for determining the state of the nation’s economy. The quarterly rate fluctuations in GDP generally indicate economic growth. Measures higher than expected are considered positive/bullish for JPY, while lower than expected are interpreted as negative/bearish for JPY.

The post GDP Quarter on Quarter appeared first on BlackBull Markets.

The questionnaire collects data on the entire retail turnover in the country, including individual stores, markets, door-to-door and telephone sales. A separate question concerns the total amount of retail sales made online.

Statistics of retail sales include the cost of food, clothing, shoes, household items, etc. The indicator separately accounts for non-store retailing (door-to-door, stalls, Internet sales, etc.). Services are not included: holidays, air fares and train tickets, insurance, banking, etc. A seasonally adjusted index is calculated based on the survey results. The index is calculated in relation to a base year of 2013 having a benchmark level of 100. A month-to-month index change is measured in percent.

This indicator is one of the earliest indicators of the economic policy effectiveness. It is used when preparing national reports (GDP, current account balance, etc.). Economic regulation measures are adopted based on the RSI. In GDP calculation, the RSI is used to measure household final consumption expenditure (when GDP is measured from the expenditure approach).

Being a measure of consumer activity, the Retail Sales Index growth can affect the British pound quotes positively.

The post Retail Sales Month on Month appeared first on BlackBull Markets.

The index is calculated based on a survey of representatives of several hundred companies from 18 US industries. Unlike Markit, ISM considers not only private companies but is based on the common NAICS (North American Industrial Classification System) list. Respondents describe the following aspects of their economic activity:

• New orders received from clients
• Output (speed and level)
• Suppliers’ delivery times (whether delivery performance is faster or slower)
• Company’s inventories
• Customers’ stocks (an approximate estimate of stocks stored by company’s clients)
• Prices, whether the company is paying for products and services more or less
• Backlog of orders (increasing or decreasing)
• New export orders, i.e. the number of orders received for further export
• Imports — amount of imported materials
• Employment in the company

The questionnaire features relative estimates: whether the situation is better, worse or has not changed. Responses are estimated taking into account weights of respondent companies.

The values are seasonally adjusted. The resulting manufacturing PMI is a composite of five diffuse indices with different weights (New orders, Output, Employment, Supplies and Inventories).

Readings above 50 point to improvements in the industry situation. Index below 50 is an indication of contraction in economic conditions of production. The further the value moves from the mark of 50, the greater the rate of situation change.

Manufacturing PMI is one of the most important indicators of economic health. Although the manufacturing sector is not a very important component of national GDP, it is still an early indicator of a coming recession or growth. Purchasing managers are among the first to know when the market conditions change, since they work in the short term and can evaluate a trend towards changing economic conditions. The index is released earlier than GDP and reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, therefore it is a leading indicator.

Manufacturing PMI growth is usually seen as positive for the US dollar.

The post ISM Manufacturing PMI appeared first on BlackBull Markets.