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I have to confess that I have fallen into “Japan bad news” syndrome, in that I expect bad news out of Japan and therefore did not focus enough on the details. And while I do not aspire to covering every financial news story (that’s what the MSM is for), the latest figures paint a grim picture, even by our new, desensitized standards.
It wasn’t simply that December was truly awful, but it came on top of a nearly-as-bad November. From Bloomberg:
Japanese manufacturers cut production an unprecedented 9.6 percent last month, deepening a recession that’s expected to be the worst in the postwar era.
The drop eclipsed the previous record of 8.5 percent decline set in November, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. Economists predicted a month-on-month decrease of 8.9 percent….
The International Monetary Fund said this week that Japan’s gross domestic product will shrink 2.6 percent this year, the bleakest projection for any Group of Seven economy except the U.K. That contraction would be Japan’s worst since World War II.
Yes, the Baltic Dry Index, which some see as a proxy for international trade, picked up a bit from its near-death level in January, but that may be due to Chinese New Year-related spending.
