1) The Economy Watchers Survey posted a drop in the current conditions component, but the future conditions component plummeted by the largest single month amount since the earthquake in 2011.
Bank loans posted a small MoM drop but continue to grow an an historically high rate.
Trade numbers revealed more of the same: imports growing while exports remain stagnant to down. Below we show the volume of imports and exports to help mitigate currency effects. From this perspective import volume grew by 8% YoY in January while export volume fell by .2%.
Finally, 4th quarter GDP was revised down slightly to growth of .7% annualized.
