Japan Inc. is looking like it’s not holding up its end of the "Abenomics" bargain.
Since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office almost three years ago, he's been championing yen-weakening policies that pushed corporate earnings to record highs in the hopes that companies will boost spending and workers' paychecks. Yet the latest figures show falling business investments helped push Japan into its second recession under Abe and wage growth remains stagnant.
While those figures amount to a snub for Abe, they also illustrate the prime minister's broader struggles in getting companies to buy into Abenomics. Just as before Abe, manufacturers continue to shun building factories in the world's third-largest economy as companies hoard record levels of cash.