Focus on The Japanese GDP

Welcome to the Investors Trading Academy event of the week. Each week our staff of analysts and educators tries to provide you a better understanding of a major market event scheduled during the next week. This week we will focus on the Japanese GDP. This release takes place the middle of each month. This month the GDP report will be released on May 20th. Analysts are expecting Japan's gross domestic product to grow for a second-straight quarter during the first 3 months of this year. But, the pace of its recovery is expected to stay at a moderate level. Many private research firms and financial institutions in Japan are predicting a real GDP expansion of between 0.2 and 0.5 percent in the January-to-March period compared with the previous 3 months. The figures translate to annualized growth of between 0.6 and 2.1 percent. That would put it in positive territory in a second consecutive quarter. Analysts say the negative impact of the tax hike last April is receding. But, they say the recovery remains modest. Largely to blame is sluggish consumer spending and companies still exercising caution about corporate investment. Although revised data confirmed that the Japanese economy exited recession in Q4, growth in the final quarter of 2014 was lower than initially expected. GDP expanded 1.5% in Q4 over the previous quarter in seasonally adjusted annualized terms. The reading was below the 2.2% increase reported in the first release. On an annual basis, economic activity fell 0.8% in Q4, which undershot the 0.5% drop tallied in the first estimate. The Bank of Japan expects the economy to expand between 1.8% and 2.3% in the fiscal year 2015, which ends in March 2016. In the subsequent fiscal year, the BoJ sees GDP growth of between 1.5% and 1.7%. The Gross Domestic Product in Japan was worth 4901 billion US dollars in 2013. The GDP value of Japan represents 7.90 percent of the world economy. GDP in Japan averaged 2481.74 USD Billion from 1960 until 2013, reaching an all-time high of 5938 USD Billion in 2012 and a record low of 44.30 USD Billion in 1960. GDP in Japan is reported by the World Bank Group. The gross domestic product measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. The gross domestic product is equal to the total expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated period of time. By Barry Nrman. Investors Trading Academy