Japan's machinery orders jump in Oct
Japanese machinery orders bounced back in October with a faster increase than expected, re-affirming the resilience of capital spending - a key driver in the economy's near two-year expansion.
Core machinery orders, a volatile data series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, climbed 5.0 percent in October from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday.
The gain in core orders, which exclude those of ships and power generation equipment, beat economists' median estimate of a 3.0 percent increase. Orders fell 8.1 percent in September, the steepest drop in more than two years.
Capital spending - investment in factories and equipment - was a big contributor to the economy's seventh straight quarter of growth in the July-September period, the longest streak on record in data going back to 1994, making up for a rare decline in consumer spending.
In the longer term, the government is urging companies to increase capital spending to improve productivity in response to a shrinking labor force as the population declines.
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