Growth in Japan's economy ground to a near standstill in the third quarter, at its weakest in a year, as the U.S.-China trade war and soft global demand knocked exports and kept pressure on policymakers to ramp up stimulus in order to bolster a fragile recovery.
Private consumption also cooled from the previous quarter, casting doubt on the Bank of Japan's view that robust domestic demand will offset the impact from intensifying global risks.
In the third quarter the world's third-largest economy grew an annualized 0.2 percent, slowing sharply from a revised 1.8 percent expansion in April to June, according to preliminary gross domestic product data released by the government Thursday.