Japan: Machinery orders contract for third consecutive month in September
Core machinery orders, a leading indicator for capital spending over a three- to six-month period, contracted for the third month in a row in September. September’s drop prompted the government to downgrade its assessment on the indicator, stating that “a pick-up is seen stalling in machinery orders.” Headline machinery orders (private sector, excluding volatile orders) declined 2.9% over the previous month in seasonally-adjusted terms in September, following the 2.4% drop in August. The print contrasted the 0.9% increase expected by market analysts.
Compared to the same month of the previous year, core machinery orders rose 5.1% in September, contrasting August’s 14.5% plunge. The annual average variation in core machinery orders swung from a 1.1% decline in August to a 0.1% increase in September.