JAPAN DATA: Japan’s Cabinet Office said on Thursday that it will
completely remove orders for mobile handsets from the key core machinery
orders figure — starting with April 2011 data due out in June — so
that the data give a clearer picture of the trend in demand. Core
private-sector machinery orders, which already exclude volatile demand
from electric utilities and for ships, are viewed as a leading indicator
of corporate capital investment. But the existing core reading includes
orders for mobile handsets, which are mostly for households, and thus do
not help to accurately gauge capex plans. Moreover, handset orders
fluctuate significantly from month to month.