Core private-sector machinery orders fell at the fastest pace in more than five years in the April-June quarter, the government said Thursday, underscoring corporate reluctance to boost investment after the April 1 consumption tax hike.
The orders, which exclude those for ships and from utilities because of their volatility, sank a seasonally adjusted 10.4 percent from the previous quarter, falling for the first time in five quarters to ¥2.28 trillion, the Cabinet Office said.
It was the sharpest quarter-on-quarter decline in the orders — used as a leading indicator of capital spending — since the January-March quarter of 2009, when the economy was in the grips of the 2008 global financial crisis.