Econ Grapher

Tankan

What is the Tankan?
The Tankan is a quarterly survey of business sentiment in Japan, the word Tankan is shorthand for kigyō tanki keizai kansoku chōsa (企業短期経済観測調査, lit. Short-Period Economy Observation). The report is issued by the Bank of Japan, the bank also uses the report in formulating monetary policy settings. The report is released in April, July, October, and mid-December. The survey is basically a business confidence survey, and covers thousands of companies' views on things like current trends and conditions, and expected activities for the next quarter/year. The index covers both large and small businesses and both manufacturing and non-manufacturing enterprises.

How does it relate to Markets?
The Tankan survey is closely watched in the Japanese markets, it is a critical indicator to watch if you are following the Japanese stock market or currency; or even if you follow stocks that do a large proportion of their business in Japan. Generally improving figures, and higher positive numbers, will be bullish for the markets; they may also reveal clues on how monetary policy may be set in the future. The Tankan survey tends to have a similar impact as the PMI in the US and other countries.

Sources and further reading:
Bank of Japan - Official Website and detailed explanation of the index
Reuters Financial Glossary - Tankan
Investopedia - Tankan

Graph Library:
Metric - Tankan

Original Source: http://www.econgrapher.com/encyclopedia-tankan.html

 Back to the Econ Grapher Encyclopedia

Bookmark and Share