Japan – manufacturing upturn

The overall impression from all today's releases is continued inflation pressure supported by a stronger mfg cycle. The signs of a fall-off in services momentum, however, bear monitoring, perhaps showing signs that tightening might actually be biting. If so, the implication is a flatter curve.

Paul Cavey

Oct 7, 2026 • 4 min read

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East Asia Today

No data releases today, and the work I've been doing on China's global market shares isn't finished. So instead of individual economies, today's daily is a review of regional trade patterns: exports, imports, prices, major products, and balances.

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East Asia Today

Commodity prices show pipeline inflation pressures across the region remain substantial. In Japan, domestic price pressures are also apparent, with a renewed rise in the positive output gap in Q2 and high consumer inflation expectations. Taiwan's fx reserves fell in September.

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Weekly charts

I am trying out a free weekly, highlighting four charts that illustrate macro trends across the region. Today's covers input prices in China, broadening CPI inflation in Japan, exports in Korea and the property market in Taiwan.