Japan Machine Orders Fall Again: Recession Underway?
Edward Hugh
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Well, while most of the attention out there is justifiably focused on the dramatic events of recent days in the financial markets, the real economy is where the impact of what is happening all ends up, and news on this from in Japan continues to be pretty bleak.
Today we learnt that a key barometer of corporate capital spending in Japan plunged in August to its lowest level in more than five years, as business investment retreated sharply amid fears of a broader global slowdown.
Core private sector machinery orders, which exclude often-volatile orders from electric power firms and shipbuilders, fell 14.5 percent from the previous month to 891.7 billion yen ($8.9 billion) — the lowest value since April 2003.
The result marked the third straight month of declines and was far worse than the 3.3 percent drop forecast by Kyodo news agency.
The figures, considered an important gauge of business investment in the future, add to concerns that the sluggish exports performance in recent months is plunging the world's second-largest economy back into what looks to be a pretty nasty recession.
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