Big manufacturers grew less optimistic about business conditions as global stock markets fell and concern about the future of the U.S. economy grew, according to the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" corporate sentiment survey released Monday.
The results of the quarterly survey, conducted from Feb. 23 to March 30, show that the headline index for big manufacturers, a key driver of the economy, fell to 23 points from 25 in the December survey, the first drop in a year.
"A global stock slump at the end of February dented the business sentiment of Japanese corporations, and industrial production (for manufacturing) has recently peaked," said Takashi Imamura, chief economist at Marubeni Research Institute.