Japan’s Trade Balance saw the surplus shrink further in July, albeit less so than expected, printing at 232.2 billion yen versus 252.1 billion in June. The metric continued to be distorted as higher fuel costs in the reference period inflated import volumes. The broader Current Account metric (which includes cross-border capital flows in addition to trade in goods and services) saw the surplus decline further in the year to July, contracting -17.3%. The annualized reading declined for 5 consecutive months as stagnating demand in Japan’s key export markets withers amid the global economic slowdown. While the surplus improved on a monthly basis, economists generally consider these changes to be too volatile to be indicative of trends in cross-border trade patterns.
For a complete listing of this week’s data releses, please see the DailyFX Economic Calendar.