temporarily volatile items in order to grasp the trend behavior of prices. they often are utilized to project future prices owing to their relatively high predictive power. the difference is that the core cpi always excludes the same items that tend to show high volatility from the consumption basket weight. in contrast, the trimmed mean looks at the price changes every month for each item of the cpi and eliminates a certain fraction ( e. g., 10 percent ) of the most extreme observations at both ends of the largest and smallest changes. thus, items eliminated each month could vary month to month. the bank uses the cpi for all items less fresh food, or the “ core cpi, ” in determining its medium - term outlook for prices in the outlook report. energy prices are included in the core cpi because they did not have a statistically significant impact on cpi movements in the long term. however, as a sharp fall in energy prices since the latter half of the previous year has amplified the volatility in the core cpi, it has become more important to assess the underlying trend in inflation in a comprehensive manner, not only with the core cpi but also with multiple indicators. as one such indicator, the bank has begun to release the “ cpi for all items less fresh food and energy ” on a monthly basis. while the rate of change in the core cpi has been at around 0 percent recently, that in the cpi for all items less fresh food and energy has risen to 1. 2 percent lately ( chart 3 ). moreover, the trimmed mean is increasingly becoming important since the indicator automatically removes highly volatile items every month – given that fluctuations in commodity prices and foreign exchange rates have amplified. the “ 10 percent trimmed mean ” has been rising moderately and is currently at 0. 6 percent, and this contrasts sharply with the declining trend observed about the same period last year. third, firms ’ pricing behavior with respect to sales prices has shown positive developments. to see this, let me plot the relationship between the actual sales price di and the rate of growth in projected domestic sales for fiscal 2015, according to the september tankan ( chart 4 ). the sales price di is calculated by subtracting the percentage share of firms responding that their sales prices are “ falling ” from the share of those indicating that the prices are “ rising. ” chart 4 indicates that a few sectors are positioned in the first quadrant ( positive territory for both the actual sales price di and projected domestic sales ). developments in sectors such as

securities analysts stimulating each other from different perspectives, “ production of information ” in the markets as a whole will be elevated both in terms of quality and quantity. what i especially expect is the “ production of information ” that contributes to exploring growing companies. although the growth potential of japan ’ s economy has been declining, if looked at individually, there are many firms with high profits and growth, and there will be further more potentially growing firms. finding out such promising investment opportunities one by one and nurturing them, while it seems a roundabout approach, will offer a potent breakthrough for eventually increasing growth potential of japan ’ s economy. second, maintaining full communication with firms. while the role of securities analysts is basically to provide investors with analysis on firms, cherishing connection with firms that are the subject of analysis eventually means that securities analysts will ask those firms their unique questions. namely, securities analysts can contribute to the process, in which firms constantly develop their business strategies while incorporating investors ’ perspectives. in other words, securities analysts play a valuable role as an interactive connecting point between firms and investors. third, playing an active role as global human resources. while currently a slowdown in emerging economies has become somewhat protracted, those economies have high bis central bankers ’ speeches growth potential in the medium to long term and, on the financial front, it is likely that especially asian securities markets will expand substantially. just like today ’ s conference, information exchange and interaction of people at a global level will become increasingly active in the future. in order to improve the attractiveness of japan ’ s securities markets and attract overseas investors, and also to utilize expanding overseas investment opportunities in the asset formation of japanese households, i expect securities analysts to play an active role with the key words “ asia ” or “ global. ” concluding remarks from the perspective of strengthening growth potential of japan ’ s economy, today i have talked about the importance of the role securities markets and securities analysts play. i think the aforementioned term “ production of information ” illustrates how financial business is a knowledge - intensive industry. in japan ’ s economy, in which the labor force has been declining in association with aging, increasing the growth rate of added - value per capita is a necessary condition for economic growth. if the typical knowledge - intensive industry of financial business enhances the ability of creating added - value and grows, it will itself contribute to strengthening the growth potential of japan ’ s economy. i have high hopes that securities analysts, while holding their strong intellectual curiosity and sen