Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2026
0850 JST (2350 GMT/1850 EST Sunday, Jan. 18) The Cabinet Office releases November machinery orders.
Mace News median: core orders -8.4% m/m (range: -9.4% to -4.9%) vs. Oct +7.0%; +1.0% y/y (range: -0.5x.x% to +5.8%) vs. Oct +12.5%
By Chikafumi Hodo
TOKYO (MaceNews) – Japan’s core machinery orders, a key leading indicator of business investment in equipment and software, are expected to decline on the month in November for the first time in three months, reflecting a reactionary pullback following the unexpected sharp rebound in orders from the transportation and postal services sectors in the previous month.
Core machinery orders are forecast to fall 8.4% on the month in November, after unexpectedly jumping 7.0% in October. On a year-on-year basis, core orders, excluding those from electric utilities and for ships, are expected to rise for the 14th consecutive month to 1.0%, but sharply lower from a 12.5% increase in October.
Reflecting generally solid business sentiment toward capital investment, supported by strong demand for automation and digitization amid widespread labor shortages, the Cabinet Office upgraded its assessment of this volatile indicator in the previous month for the first time since its November 2024 report, stating that “machinery orders are showing signs of a pickup.” This followed a downgrade just two months earlier, when the Cabinet Office said that the pickup in orders was “stalling.”