Japon Machinery Orders

Japan's core machinery orders, which exclude those for ships and electric power companies, declined by 1.9% month-on-month to 858.1 billion yen in August 2024, coming in worse than market expectations for a 0.1% fall. It was the fifth drop so far this year as orders for the manufacturing sector fell by 2.5% to 388.4 billion yen. Industries that saw the biggest declines were other transport equipment (-38%), information & communication electronics (-28.4%) and non-ferrous metals (-23.4%). Orders for the non-manufacturing sector also declined by 7.7% to 446.9 billion yen, driven mainly by decreases in transportation & postal activities (-34.4%), wholesale & retail trade (-23.6%) and finance & insurance (-15.6%). On an annual basis, private-sector machinery orders fell by 3.4% in August, reversing sharply from an 8.7% increase in July.