Japan’s industrial production plunged -9.1% mom in April, even worse than expectation of -5.1% mom. That’s the biggest decline since comparable data became available back in 2013. “Conditions among manufacturers particularly in the auto sector are severe, but production has already restarted in China and I think that they will be resumed in the United States and Europe as well,” said Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura after the release of the data.
Also from Japan, unemployment rate edged up by 0.1% to 2.6% in April, better than expectation of 2.7%. Retail sales dropped -13.7% yoy, worse than expectation of -11.5% yoy. Though, Tokyo CPI core turned positive to 0.2% yoy in May, up from -0.1% yoy.
