China Passes Japan as 2nd Largest Economy

Bloomberg reports:

Japan’s economy grew at less than a fifth of the pace economists estimated last quarter, pushing it into third place behind the U.S. and China and adding to evidence the global recovery is faltering.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 0.4 percent in the three months ended June 30, slowing from a revised 4.4 percent expansion in the first quarter, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for annual growth of 2.3 percent.