I will first briefly touch on the current situation of overseas economies (Chart 1). Although tariff negotiations between the Japanese and U.S. governments have resulted in an agreement recently, and progress has been made in negotiations and agreements on trade and other policies in each jurisdiction, there remain many uncertainties in this regard. With respect to global business sentiment, as of July 2025, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the services industry has been clearly above 50 -- the break-even point between improvement and deterioration -- while the PMI for the manufacturing industry has been at ... (full story)