{"id":18549,"date":"2023-04-21T00:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T00:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/japans-factory-activity-shrinks\/"},"modified":"2023-04-21T00:58:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T00:58:38","slug":"japans-factory-activity-shrinks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/japans-factory-activity-shrinks\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s factory activity shrinks at slowest pace in six months – PMI"},"content":{"rendered":"

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s manufacturing activity shrank at the slowest pace in six months in April on a softer decline in sales, while the service-sector stayed solid, a preliminary survey showed on Friday, suggesting a patchy post-COVID economic recovery.<\/p>\n

The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 49.5 in April, from a final 49.2 in the previous month.<\/p>\n

The index remained below the 50-level that separates contraction from expansion for a six straight month in April, pointing to the persistent struggles for factories even though the worst appeared to be over for the sector.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, service-sector activity expanded for an eight straight month in April supported by gains in new orders and new export business, the same survey showed. <\/p>\n

“Japan’s private sector continued to expand solidly at the start of Q2, according to latest Flash PMI data, with a resurgent service economy helping to offset a weak manufacturing sector performance,” said Annabel Fiddes, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, which compiles the survey.<\/p>\n

“While service providers anticipate further improvements in demand and operating conditions as the impact of COVID-19 fades, a number of manufacturers expressed concerns over the economic outlook, rising costs and component shortages,” Fiddes said.<\/p>\n

Reuters Tankan survey showed on Wednesday big Japanese manufacturers remained pessimistic in April for a fourth straight month as jitters over Western banks added to slowing global growth. But it also showed the service sector mood improved for a second straight month to a four-month high. <\/p>\n

The au Jibun Bank flash services PMI grew to a seasonally adjusted 54.9 this month, little changed from 55.0 in March, and marked the second highest reading since October 2013. <\/p>\n

The au Jibun Bank Flash Japan composite PMI, which covers both the manufacturing and service sector activities, was at 52.5 in April, remaining above the 50-level for a four straight month.<\/p>\n

\n

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)<\/p>\n

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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s manufacturing activity shrank at the slowest pace in six months in April on a softer decline in sales, while the service-sector stayed solid, a preliminary survey showed on Friday, suggesting a patchy post-COVID economic recovery. The au Jibun Bank flash Japan manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-economy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportEconomy\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3K014-VIEWIMAGE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18551,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549\/revisions\/18551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}