Sunny all over the world in May, but the pace of increase somewhat slowed

July, 2010
Reo TAKAKU
Sumio SARUYAMA (Senior Economist)

 The JCER World Business Climate Index stood at 13.9 in May, increasing for the thirteenth consecutive month. It has been sunny all over the world. In addition, EU, which had been cloudy until April, has also improved into sunny weather in May. On the other hand the index has decreased in Japan and Asian countries. As for the preliminary estimates for June, although it has been sunny in China and US, the index has decreased compared to the previous month. We should pay some attention to the point that the index might overestimate the recovery, because this index is calculated using the year on year estimates of economic indicators. Therefore, it would be likely that strong reactions from the depression in last days might appear in it.