Japan's machinery orders up 5.4% in August

Japan's core private-sector machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 5.4% on month in August to its highest reading in five years, the government said Thursday, signaling many companies have become more willing to beef up business investment with the economy recuperating. After a fall in July, the orders, which exclude those for ships as well as those from utilities because of their volatility, came to 819.3 billion yen, the highest since September 2008, before the country's economy started to wane against a backdrop of the global financial crisis, the Cabinet Office said. The orders, widely regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending, increased for the first time in three months, Japan's news agency (Kyodo) reported.