With trade on the Trump/Abe agenda, hope the surplus is not too good
Japan will release their trade balance at 2350 GMT. The expectation is for a
- Surplus of 499.2B yen vs a prior surplus of 2.6B.
- The adjusted trade surplus is expected at 104B yen vs prior deficit of 201.5B
- Exports are expected to rise 5.2% YoY; Prior was 1.8%
- Imports are expected to rise 6.3% YoY; Prior was a rise of 16.6%.
Last month:
- Exports to China slipped 9.7% from a year earlier
- Shipments to the US rose 4.3%
- Shipments to the EU rose 11.5%
- The decline to China was because of holidays
- A stronger yen poses risk to the Japanese economy by making exports less competitive and weighing on inflation by reducing the price of imports
- The chance of a trade war breaking out due to Pres. Trump's tariffs is another downside for Japan trade.
In Austrlia, the Westpac leading index for March will be released at 0030 GMT.
- Last month, the index came in up 0.29% to 98.05.
- There is no estimate for the current month.
- The 6-month annualized growth was 1.3% from 0.68% in January
