Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Japanese Economy "Unexpectedly" Crumbling

I needed to throw unexpectedly in quotes. At this point is anything really "unexpected" in terms of downside surprise? Bloomberg reports:

Japanese machine orders unexpectedly fell for a third month and the current-account surplus narrowed because of plunging exports, stoking concern that the economy will struggle to emerge from its worst postwar recession.

“It’s still difficult to have any confidence that the economy’s rebound will continue through this year,” said Mari Iwashita, chief market economist at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co. in Tokyo. “Given the economy’s weakness, the Bank of Japan will probably decide to extend all of its emergency measures beyond their expiration at the end of September.”


In addition:
Exports tumbled 42.2 percent from a year earlier, a steeper drop than the previous month, causing the current account surplus to contract to 1.3 trillion yen ($13.8 billion). Imports fell 43.9 percent, the ministry said.


Source: ESRI

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