90% Of Corporate Heads See Japanese Economy Growing, 80% See Consumption Picking Up

According to a Nikkei survey, which was conducted June 5-21, "a total of 90.5% of the heads of 148 major Japanese companies say the economy is growing, far more than the 68.2% recorded in March", and "those who thought personal consumption had picked up from six months earlier or was starting to pick up stood at 80.4%, a sharp climb from 51.4% in the previous survey. Looking to the future, roughly 80% said both personal consumption and the economy would be improved or showing signs of improvement three months later."The 90.5% figure "even topped the 79.3% logged in October 2007, before the eruption of the global financial crisis."

"A total of 5.4% of the respondents said the economy was growing smoothly, while 85.1% said it was expanding, but slowly. Those who felt it was leveling off shrank to 9.5% from the previous 31.1%. No one said the economy was weakening."

"Although the stock market saw a series of volatile swings and the yen moved back to a strengthening trend while the survey was being conducted, the corporate chiefs were overwhelmingly optimistic."

"When asked about their investment plans, most executives said they wanted to invest for growth, with 62.2% specifying capital investment, 42.6% M&As and 35.1% R&D. Only 31.8% said they wanted to spend money on restoring their financial standing, such as by reducing their debt."