Japan's January machinery orders fall 1.7%

Japan's core private-sector machinery orders fell a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in January from the previous month, dragged down by a plunge in the manufacturing sector after a jump in December, the government said Wednesday.
The orders, excluding those for ships and from utilities because of their volatility, came to 838.9 billion yen ($6.92 billion), declining for the first time in three months following a seasonally adjusted 8.3 percent gain the previous month, Japan's News Agency (Kyodo) reported.
The government left unchanged its basic assessment of core machinery orders, regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending, saying they have "shown signs of a moderate pickup," after upgrading its view in December.