BOJ Tankan Improves, though less than expected

According to the Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey of business sentiment, the key diffusion index measuring business sentiment improved to -48 from -58 in the previous quarterly survey in March, still slightly below the consensus expectation for a rise to -43. The companies see the index rising to -30 in the September survey, indicating they expect further improvement.

We have seen the pace of production cutbacks slowing and exports recovering. In the long run, people are afraid that the recovery will be slow and gradual.