The business confidence of major manufacturers dropped for the first time in three quarters in the Bank of Japan's latest "tankan" survey released Friday, reflecting pessimism as U.S. subprime-mortgage woes continue to cast a dark cloud over the Japanese economy.
The BOJ's key quarterly survey showed that the business sentiment of big manufacturers dropped to 19 from 23 in the previous tankan, which was released in October. The average forecast of 24 private-sector economists surveyed by Kyodo News was 20.
"It was much worse than I thought," said Akihiro Morishige, an economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute.