World Business Briefing: Japan: Economy Contracted in Spring Quarter
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Japanâs economy contracted in the April-June quarter, the government said in a revision of its preliminary estimate that it had expanded. The latest data suggest that Japanâs economy may be suffering a slowdown in its pace of growth, making it harder for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates anytime soon. The government said the nationâs gross domestic product fell 1.2 percent on an annual basis in the April-June period, the first contraction in three quarters. Its preliminary estimate was that the economy had grown 0.5 percent in the spring quarter.
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Tokyo stocks slipped early Wednesday after the government announced that Japan's economy shrank 0.1 percent during the quarter that ended Dec. 31. The dollar was down against the Japanese yen and the euro.
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TOKYO : The Japanese government has outlined plans to cut its spending for the next fiscal year. This comes as it projects that the world&#39;s second largest
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The Bank of Japan&#39;s quarterly survey of business confidence confirmed that the world&#39;s second-largest economy is recovering at a steady pace, Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Heizo Takenaka said.
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Japan&#39;s economy will be the most severely affected among industrialized nations by population aging, Kyodo News said Thursday.
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Japan&#39;s economic growth in the April-June period was revised down to 0.3 percent in real terms, dropping 0.1 percentage points from the previously released figure,the government said Friday.
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Investment by Japanese firms hit a record in the first quarter of 2007, official data shows.
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Japan&#39;s central bank offered a bleaker assessment of the country&#39;s economy Friday for the first time in more than a year and a half, citing weaker industrial production and slowing export growth.
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TOKYO - Japan&#39;s benchmark Nikkei stock index hit a five-week closing high Monday on upbeat capital spending figures for the April-June quarter by Japanese companies.
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TOKYO Sept. 10, 2004 - Japan revised its economic growth numbers for the April-June quarter downward Friday, but analysts shrugged off the report and said recovery was on solid footing for the world&#39;s second largest economy.
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Japan&#39;s Cabinet has approved an 82.18 trillion yen (US$793 billion; euro587 billion) draft national budget for fiscal 2005, boosting overall spending to support its rapidly aging population and pay interest on the government&#39;s massive
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Japan's second quarter growth rate is likely to be revised up this week on the back of data showing increased corporate investment in factories and offices along with higher profits.
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Japanâs machinery orders rose in January, the most in five months, signaling that capital spending will keep fueling the economy. Nongovernment machinery orders, excluding shipping and utilities, rose a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent, to 1.09 trillion yen ($9.4 billion), from December, when they fell 0.7 percent, according to a Cabinet Office report.
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Japanâs industrial production unexpectedly dropped in May for a third month, the longest losing streak in almost two years. Production fell a seasonally adjusted 0.4 percent from a month earlier, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. Slower production diminishes hopes that economic growth will accelerate, in contrast with other reports released in the last week, which said that export growth almost doubled to 15.1 percent in May and retail sales gained for the first time in eight months. The Bank of Japanâs governor, Toshihiko Fukui, said this month that the bank needed more evidence of the economyâs strength before it raises the key interest rate from 0.5 percent.
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The Japanese government downgraded its  view on the economy slightly on Tuesday, citing weaker exports  and output, but it said a recovery was continuing due to steady  domestic demand, in terms of both personal consumption and  capital spending.  "The economy continues to recover, while  some weak movements have been seen recently," the government  said in its monthly economic report.
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Japan and the European Union will launch talks next month to enhance economic cooperation in the first step to a long-shot possibility of a free trade deal, officials said Wednesday.
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Japanese firms cut capital spending by  4.9 percent in April-June from a year earlier, data showed on  Monday, confounding forecasts and adding to views that the Bank  of Japan will hold off from raising rates this month.