S. KOREA

Consumer confidence in South Korea slipped for the first time in five months as a jump in virus cases and tighter social restrictions made households more pessimistic about the economic outlook. The consumer sentiment index fell to 79.4 in September from 88.2 the previous month, the Bank of Korea said last Friday. The economy showed signs of recovery at the start of the quarter, but the early momentum lost steam as daily virus case counts soared to hundreds in August.