Oops Japan Did It Again? Sales-Tax Hit Spurs Recession Debate
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Weak industrial production data from Japan today raises concern that the world’s third-largest economy may be back in recession, challenging Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s growth strategy.
Output -- a key component of the Coincident Index that’s used by the Cabinet Office to determine peaks and troughs in the business cycle -- unexpectedly fell in August. It’s now dropped in three of the five months since an increase in the sales tax in April.