Outlays for travel have remained firm and sales at department stores and supermarkets are increasing at a moderate pace. Among leading indicators of business fixed investment, machinery orders are increasing steadily albeit with some quarterly fluctuations. After the decline in the third quarter 1996, they are expected to increase significantly in the fourth quarter. Construction floor area has also picked up moderately.
According to the Bank of Japan’s Tankan -- Short-Term Economic Survey of Enterprises in Japan of November 1996, business fixed investment plans of principal manufacturing firms for fiscal 1996 continued to increase at the same pace as those for fiscal 1995, while those of non-manufacturing firms turned to increase for the first time in five years.