East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

Today's September PMIs in China were mixed (construction PMI weak, S&P services firm), and Japan's August retail sales fell. There should have been more data, but Korea's stats website is still down following a fire, and after a holiday, Taiwan's consumer confidence survey has yet to appear.

Paul Cavey

Sep 30, 2025 • 2 min read

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East Asia Today

Yesterday's summary release of the Tankan showed price pressures remaining firm. That message is a bit stronger still in today's comprehensive release. Despite rising prices, consumer confidence edged up in September. Elsewhere, NPS outflows in Korea continue to offset the large CA surplus.

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Japan – "underlying" inflation still tacking at 2%+

Inflation indicators in yesterday's summary release of the Tankan were already firm. Today's comprehensive release paints a picture that is stronger still. The implication is that one of the BOJ's older measures of underlying inflation, the trimmed mean, is likely to remain above 2% for the next 6M.

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East Asia Today

As usual on the 1st of the month, today there's the PMIs and full-month trade data from Korea, as well as the Q4 Tankan for Japan. The regional manufacturing cycle is soft, but Japan non-manufacturing is strong, the Korean PMI bounced, and weak PMIs haven't mattered for actual growth in Taiwan.