Japan’s [B]Merchandise Trade Balance[/B] surplus expanded for the third consecutive month, rising to 508 billion yen in June from 298.2 billion in May. We argued the likelihood of such an outcome in our Japanese Yen weekly forecast, noting that the abysmal job market will surely continue to weigh on imports. Indeed, inbound shipments tumbled -41.9% from a year before while exports shed -35.7%. More of the same is likely in the months ahead as unemployment continues to push higher: a survey of economists conducted by Bloomberg suggests the jobless rate surpassed 5% in the second quarter and will approach the 6% mark by the second half of 2010 while minutes from the last meeting of the Bank of Japan revealed policymakers expect consumption to remain weak as “the employment and income situation [is] likely to become increasingly severe”.