Japan August industrial production revised down to -2.4% M/M; core machine orders rise 5.2%
Japan’s industrial output fell 2.4% M/M in August 2026, dropping faster than the preliminary reading of -1.7% and building on July's 0.2% decline. This marks the second consecutive month of monthly output contraction and the sharpest downturn since January.
On an annual basis, industrial output grew 2.7%, slowing from 3.9% in July, but marking a third straight month of expansion.
Core machine orders, a key leading indicator of capital spending that excludes volatile categories like ships and electric utilities, rebounded 5.2% month-over-month to JPY 1,069.8 billion in August.
The performance reversed July’s 3.7% drop, easily topping consensus forecasts for a 3.0% gain and marking the fourth monthly increase of the year.
Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda noted in a speech that the central bank should not be overly cautious regarding future interest rate hikes, pointing to ongoing upside inflation risks and broad accommodative financial conditions.
Japanese equity markets dropped sharply following broader regional selling and tech sector volatility. The Nikkei 225 Index fell 4.60% toward the 65,000 level, extending its losing streak to six consecutive sessions. Meanwhile, the Japanese yen strengthened past 158 per dollar.
More on Japan economy
Recommended For You
Create Your Free Account to Keep Reading
Get the confidence to navigate an uncertain market with free breaking news and stock alerts.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.