Sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers unexpectedly worsened for the third straight quarter in the Bank of Japan's September survey released Monday, as higher raw material costs, magnified by a sharp drop in the yen, threatened to squeeze their profits despite an easing of COVID-19 supply bottlenecks.The reading of the key index measuring confidence among companies such as those in the auto and electronics sectors fell to 8 in September from 9 three months earlier, according to the BOJ's Tankan survey. The average market forecast was for an improvement to 11 in a Kyodo News survey.The…READ FULL ARTICLE
