January Machinery Orders -1.7% m/m,

  • expected -4.0%, prior +8.3%
January Machinery Orders +1.9% y/y,
  • expected -1.0%, prior +11.4%

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  • Not as bad a decline as expected, but still a concern that capex isn't growing as strongly as the Japanese government would like
  • Core orders were +1.9% in January (compared with a forecast of a 1% fall). This is a volatile series, but at least that's something positive from the data