Economic and event calendar in Asia Monday, December 15, 2025: RBA, BoJ Tankan, China data
It’s a very active session on the event calendar, notably:
- Bank of Japan Tankan
- Economic activity data from China for November, including industrial production, retail sales, the unemployment rate
- a senior Reserve Bank of Australia official is speaking
You can see in the screenshot below what is expected for the releases.
Taking what I have highlighted in turn.
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The Bank of Japan Tankan survey is a key indicator of business sentiment. Some improvement is expected.
The term “Tankan” is short for “Tanshin Kansoku,” which roughly translates to “Short-term Economic Observation”.
- its published quarterly by the BOJ and is a closely watched economic indicator
- the BoJ surveys thousands of Japanese firms of all sizes, across a wide range of industries
- questions are focused on firms’ current business conditions and their expectations for the coming quarter and year
- covering aspects such as production, sales, profits, investment in plant and equipment, employment, prices, and more
The headline(s) to to the report are diffusion indexes, which reflects the difference between the percentage of firms that are optimistic about business conditions and those that are pessimistic.
- a positive reading suggests that more companies are optimistic, while a negative reading indicates more pessimism
The report is segmented into “large manufacturers,” “large non-manufacturers,” “small manufacturers,” and “small non-manufacturers” so as to help provide insight into different sectors of the economy.
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China releases its key November activity data on Monday.
- Industrial production and retail sales are expected to pick up modestly from October, rising to 5.1% and 2.9% year-on-year, respectively.
- In contrast, fixed-asset investment is set to deepen its contraction, falling to around -2.8% year-to-date.
- With little fresh stimulus in place, price declines across the 70-city housing market are likely to persist, while property investment should continue to slow.
Policy support has been restrained in recent months, reflecting confidence that the 2025 growth target remains achievable. However, additional easing measures could emerge in the months ahead, with 2026, the first year of the next Five-Year Plan, shaping up as a key policy focus.
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From the Reserve Bank of Australia we have a speech from Andrea Brischetto
- Head of Financial Stability Department
- speaking at the Sydney Banking and Financial Stability Conference in Sydney
Tune in for this, there3 could well be insights on the policy path ahead:
- due at 1320 Sydney time
- which is 0220 GMT/ 2120 US Eastern time
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.