Japan November S&P Global final services PMI 53.2 vs 53.1 prior | investingLive

• Prior was 53.1
• Composite PMI 52.0 vs 52.0 prior
• New business growth accelerated for the first time in three months
• New export business fell for the fifth straight month
• Input price inflation accelerated to a six-month high

Not much is happening with this PMI but the Japanese service sector remains a bright spot, extending its growth streak to eight consecutive months.

Annabel Fiddes, Economics Associate Director at S&P
Global Market Intelligence:

“Latest PMI data signalled a further modest expansion
of private sector output in Japan, as a solid increase in
service sector activity offset a slight reduction in factory
output.

“The service sector has now driven growth in each of
the past five months, with the latest survey highlighting
a number of positive developments. Notably, the
indicators monitoring optimism around the outlook and
staff hiring moved to their highest levels since the start
of 2025. New orders also rose at a quicker pace (though
mildly overall), marking the first acceleration of growth
for three months.

“The sustained improvements in activity and new
business were accompanied by stronger inflationary
pressures, however. Average input costs rose at the
sharpest rate since May, which led to another solid
increase in selling prices as firms looked to protect their
margins.

“With a new economic stimulus package now approved
by Japan’s new government – which aims to boost
economic growth and help ease the impact of rising
costs – it will be important to see if this feeds through
to further improvements in demand and output in the
months ahead.”

The Bank of Japan should be worried about that rise in input inflation. They’re already very close to hiking rates on Dec 19 with the market pricing at 66%.