MNI 5 THINGS: Japan Dec Household Spending Up; View Unchanged

--Japan Dec Household Spending +0.1% Y/Y; MNI Median +1.0% 

--Japan Dec Household Spending Posts 1st Y/Y Rise in 4 Months

--Japan Govt Keeps View: Spending Picking Up But Marking Time

     TOKYO (MNI) - Japan's real average household spending rose 0.1% on year in

December for the first year-on-year rise in four months. The gain came in the

wake of higher spending on housing repair, household durable goods and spending

linked to automobiles and followed a dip of 0.5% (revised from -0.6%) in

November, data released Friday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and

Communications showed.

     The key points from the monthly Family Income and Expenditure Survey on

Households.

     --Real average spending by households with two or more people posted the

first year-on-year rise in four month in December, up 0.1% after adjustment for

the difference caused by using two different survey methods. December data was

weaker than the MNI median economist forecast, which looked for a 1.0% rise.

     --The ministry left its assessment on household spending unchanged for the

first time in five months, saying household spending "is picking up but marking

time."

     --Lower spending on utilities and medical care was offset by higher

spending on housing repair, durable goods and spending linked to automobiles.

     --On the month, real average household spending fell 0.1% in December, the

first m/m drop in three months following +0.2% in November. The average real

income of households with salaried workers rose 2.3% on year, marking the second

straight rise.

     --The government data wasn't consistent with the Bank of Japan's

supply-side Consumption Activity Index released Thursday. The index posted the

first month-on-month rise in two months in December, up a real 0.5% on a

seasonally adjusted basis following -0.3% (revised from -0.6%) in November and

+1.4% in October.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-2175-0040; email: hiroshi.inoue@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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