Japan: Core machinery orders deteriorate in June
Core machinery orders—which cover the private sector, exclude volatile orders and are a leading indicator for capital spending over the coming three- to six-month period—decreased sharply in June, confounding market analysts who had forecast a mild rise. Specifically, orders nosedived 7.6% month-on-month in seasonally-adjusted terms in June, which contrasted May’s 1.7% increase.
On an annual basis, orders plummeted 22.5% in June, which was notably larger than May’s 16.3% fall and marked the worst result since September 2009. Moreover, the trend pointed down, with the annual average variation of coming in at minus 6.1% in June, down from May’s minus 2.9%.