Japan: Machinery orders slide sharply in April
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—fell in April for the second consecutive month.
Specifically, orders fell 12.0% in April versus the previous month in seasonally-adjusted terms, following the 0.4% decrease in March. April’s reading marks the steepest decline since September 2018. Market analysts expected a lighter drop of 8.6%.
In year-on-year terms, orders fell 17.7% in April, following the 0.7% drop in March. The annual average variation in orders deteriorated to minus 2.0% in April from minus 0.3% in March.