Japan’s machinery orders jumped to 819.3 billion yen ($8.4 billion) in August, the highest since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 and a sign of a strengthening economic revival.
Orders excluding ships and power generation rose 5.4 percent from the previous month, more than double the 2.5 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 28 economists. While large bookings can make the numbers volatile, Credit Suisse Group AG. said today’s data confirm an “upward trend” in capital spending.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is gambling that the economy’s momentum and 5 trillion yen of extra stimulus will be enough to prevent a sales-tax increase scheduled for April from derailing a recovery driven by the policies called Abenomics. Today’s numbers build on a Tankan report released Oct. 1 that showed confidence among large manufacturers at the highest since the early stages of the global credit crisis in 2007.
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