Core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 10.1 percent in October from the month before to a 14-year low of 790.6 billion yen, with orders from manufacturers tumbling to a record-low 281 billion yen, the Cabinet Office said Monday.
The 790.6 billion yen of orders for October -- the worst since 774.8 billion yen in November 1987 -- represents an unadjusted 26.6 percent drop from the level a year before, the sharpest year-on-year fall since May 1998, when the orders deteriorated 28.6 percent.
"It is extremely rare for the core private-sector machinery orders to post a second consecutive month of double-digit decline," said Yoshihiko Senoo, a senior economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute, a think tank affiliated with the Cabinet Office. The 10.1 percent fall follows the 13.2 percent decline in September.