New Zealand's retail sales excluding inflation rose by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2025, surpassing the forecasted decline of 0.3% and following a previous increase of 0.8%. Year-on-year retail sales increased by 2.3%, up from 0.7% previously. Business confidence in New Zealand improved in August, with the ANZ Business Confidence Index rising to 49.7 from 47.8, marking the highest level since March and the third consecutive month of gains. However, the ANZ Business Activity Outlook Index declined to 38.7 from 40.6. In Japan, the final leading index for June fell to 105.6 from 106.1, and the coincident index slightly decreased to 116.7 from 116.8. Japan's services producer price index (PPI) rose 2.9% year-on-year in July, below the estimated 3.2% and the previous 3.2%. In the United States, preliminary durable goods orders for July fell 2.8% month-on-month, a smaller decline than the expected 4.0% drop and an improvement from June's 9.4% decrease. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 1.1%, exceeding the forecasted 0.2% increase. Australia reported a 2.8% year-on-year rise in consumer prices for July, above the expected 2.3% and previous 1.9%, with the trimmed mean CPI increasing to 2.7% from 2.1%. Construction work done in Australia grew 3.0% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, outperforming the 1.0% forecast and previous flat reading. However, private capital expenditure in Australia edged up only 0.2% in the second quarter, below the estimated 0.8% and following a 0.1% decline in the prior quarter, indicating a slowdown in building investment despite strong activity in some sectors.