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Strategies & Market Trends : JAPAN-Nikkei-Time to go back up? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chirodoc who wrote (1344)	8/13/1998 10:23:00 AM
From: Jack Kunkle	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3902

TOKYO (AP) - Employment conditions in Japan are worsening and consumer confidence - essential to Japan's economic recovery - is deteriorating further, the central bank said in a report Thursday. In another bleak assessment of the economy, the Bank of Japan said in its monthly report that the ratio of job offers to seekers has dropped to a historical low, and that incomes are falling as well. The BOJ also said that downward pressure on prices is continuing, raising fears of a deflationary spiral. Falling prices cut into company earnings, hurting income and employment conditions and dampening consumer confidence further. ''Consumer sentiment seems to be turning cautious again,'' the BOJ said. The central bank also cast doubt on the effectiveness of the government's 16 trillion yen ($112 billion) economic stimulus package announced in April, which included public works spending and special income tax cuts. ''Given the current considerably low level of economic activities, the positive influence of the package on private demand will likely be limited, and the economy's immediate transition to a self-sustained recovery is hardly expected,'' the report said. The bank said that declines in corporate and housing investment have led to''substantial cutbacks'' in industrial output, but that inventories have fallen only slightly. Corporate capital investment during the April-June quarter fell by a large margin after suffering a 5.1 percent drop in the January-March quarter.(0715)