Japanese manufacturers" business confidence index rose to a four-month high in December as supply constraints began to ease, the Reuters Tankan showed, offering policymakers some hope the economy was headed for a moderate recovery. read more The Reuters Tankan index readings are derived by subtracting the percentage of respondents who say conditions are poor from those who say they are good. A negative reading means that pessimists outnumber optimists. Following is a table of indexes for key sectors and a comparison with the Bank of Japan"s quarterly tankan survey: 2022 2021 MAR (f"cast) DEC NOV OCT SEP AUG JUL =========================================================== MANUFACTURERS (+26) +22 +13 +16 +18 +33 +25 --------------------------------------------------------------- (Materials) (+19) +25 +19 +12 +18 +34 +18 - Textiles/paper (+9) 0 0 -25 -27 0 -17 - Chemicals (+33) +56 +33 +36 +44 +72 +44 - Oil refinery/ceramics (+11) +11 +22 +22 +22 +33 +22 - Steel/nonferrous metals (+9) +9 +8 0 +16 0 +9 (Manufactured products) (+30) +21 +10 +19 +19 +31 +29 - Food (+16) +9 0 +18 +7 0 +9 - Metal products/machinery (+34) +26 +20 +34 +39 +53 +43 - Electric machinery (+23) +27 +23 +36 +14 +28 +19 - Autos/transport equipment(+45) 0 -29 -31 -14 +34 +46 - Precision machinery/others(+32) +25 +19 +20 +27 +16 +17 =============================================================== NON-MANUFACTURERS (+21) +6 +1 -1 -2 +5 -3 --------------------------------------------------------------- - Real estate/construction (-10) -5 -9 -13 -4 +5 +5 - Retail/wholesale (+23) +13 +5 -3 -3 +9 0 - Wholesalers (+33) +33 +23 +11 +17 +6 +6 - Retailers (+14) -5 -11 -16 -22 +11 -5 - Information/communications(+54) +54 +54 +46 +50 +27 +36 - Transport/utility (+38) +5 +5 +24 +5 +10 0 - Other services (+8) -16 -23 -30 -28 -15 -32 =============================================================== *** COMPARISON WITH BANK OF JAPAN TANKAN *** =============================================================== MANUFACTURERS NON-MANUFACTURERS RTRS BOJ RTRS BOJ --------------------------------------------------------------- MAR 2022 (forecast) (+26) - (+21) - FEB - - - - JAN - - - - DEC 2021 +22 (+14) +6 (+3) NOV +13 - +1 - OCT +16 - -1 - SEP +18 +18 -2 +2 AUG +33 - +5 - JUL +25 - -3 - JUN +22 +14 0 +1 MAY +21 - +2 - APR +13 - -3 - MAR +6 +5 -5 -1 FEB +3 - -7 - JAN -1 - -11 - DEC 2020 -9 -10 -4 -5 NOV -13 - -13 - OCT -26 - -16 - SEP -29 -27 -18 -12 AUG -33 - -23 - JUL -44 - -26 - JUN -46 -34 -32 -17 MAY -44 - -36 - APR -30 - -23 - MAR -20 -8 -10 +8 FEB -5 - +15 - JAN -6 - +14 - DEC 2019 -6 0 +14 +20 NOV -9 - +12 - OCT -5 - +25 - SEP -7 +5 +19 +21 AUG -4 - +13 - JUL +3 - +25 - JUN +6 +7 +22 +23 MAY +12 - +27 - APR +8 - +24 - MAR +10 +12 +22 +21 FEB +13 - +22 - JAN +18 - +31 - ----------------------------------