Japan’s economy contracted for a second straight quarter in July-September, revised government data showed yesterday, indicating that weak global demand nudged the export-reliant economy into a mild recession.
Analysts expect another quarter of contraction in the final three months of this year due to sluggish exports to China, keeping the Bank of Japan under pressure to loosen monetary policy as early as this month.
“There have been some positive indicators out in October but there is still a good chance that Japan’s economy will suffer another contraction in the October-December quarter,” said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo.
“The Bank of Japan may ease policy this month, as suggested in remarks by Deputy Governor Kiyohiko Nishimura last week. The bias is for further easing, so even if the central bank stands pat this month it will likely act in January,” he said.
Japan’s GDP shrank 0.9 percent in July-September from the previous quarter, revised government figures showed, unchanged from preliminary data reported last month. That compared with economists’ median forecast for a 0.8 percent contraction.
The figure translates into an annualized contraction of 3.5 percent in real, price-adjusted terms, which is also unchanged from the preliminary data issued last month.
The government revised GDP figures for April-June to show a small contraction of 0.03 percent, indicating that the economy contracted for two straight quarters and meeting the technical definition of a recession. The previous figure had shown growth of 0.1 percent.
Capital expenditure fell a revised 3 percent in the third quarter, compared with a 2.8 percent decline expected by economists and a preliminary reading of a 3.2 percent decline.
Separate data showed Japan’s current account surplus fell 29.4 percent in October from a year earlier, compared with the median estimate for a 59.2 percent annual decline, largely due to shrinking exports and increasing costs of fuel oil imports.
The nation’s consumer confidence and service sector business sentiment showed mixed results last month.
The survey’s sentiment index for general households, which includes views on incomes and jobs, fell for the third month in a row.
This prompted the government to cut its assessment on consumer confidence, saying there were signs of weakness.
Meanwhile, Japan’s service sector sentiment index, a survey of workers such as taxi drivers, hotel workers and restaurant staff, slightly improved for the first time in four months, but the government kept its view on the index that the economy remained weak.
Nishimura said last week the central bank will debate whether further stimulus is needed to support the economy, offering the strongest signal to date that it may loosen policy again at its next rate review on Dec. 19 and Dec. 20 in the face of growing political pressure.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS