Japan off to a firm start in Q4 - BBH

Research Team at BBH, noticed that Japan reported strong employment and consumption figures, suggest Q4 is also off to a firm start. 

Key Quotes

“Although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.0%, the details were encouraging.  The job-to-applicant ratio ticked up 1.40, which is a new high since 1991.  The number of unemployed slipped below two million for the first time since February 1995.” 

“Separately, Japan reported that retail sales jumped 2.5% in October, which lifted the year-over-year rate from -1.9% in September to -0.1%.   Overall household spending improved from -2.1% in September from a year ago to -0.4% in October.   This matches the smallest contraction since April.”