Japanese stocks have apparently entered an "adjustment phase," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday, referring to the sharp drops in the stock market recently.
But Suga also said the economy "has been recovering steadily."
The benchmark Nikkei stock index has been swinging wildly since tumbling over 7 percent Thursday. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent it soaring last year by telegraphing sure bets on exporters and getting the Bank of Japan to launch an unorthodox monetary easing experiment aimed at ending deflation.