Capital Economics Asia chief economist Marcel Thieliant said preliminary July
PMIs indicate Japan’s economy has continued to shrug off the energy-cost shock
and remains resilient, pointing to a sharp acceleration in inf. The composite
PMI rose to 53.1 in July from 52.8, a four-month high, consistent with GDP
running roughly 1.5% above trend. Thieliant flagged the improvement is hard to
reconcile with softer services and manufacturing PMIs and suggested stronger
demand for AI-related products may explain the surprise.
