Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: advocatedevil who wrote (64209)	6/5/2002 2:23:23 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Japan's 1st-Quarter Capital Spending Falls 5.2% (Update5) By Yoshiko Matsushita quote.bloomberg.com Tokyo, June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese companies slashed spending on factories and equipment in the first quarter, prompting economists to cut their forecasts for growth in the world's second-largest economy. Capital spending by companies other than insurers and banks fell 5.2 percent from the fourth quarter, seasonally adjusted, the Ministry of Finance said. It was the biggest drop in more than three years. From a year earlier, spending fell 16.8 percent after the fourth quarter's 14.5 percent drop. Spending cuts by companies such as Hitachi Ltd., Japan's biggest chipmaker, are hampering a recovery from the third recession in a decade. Hitachi plans to cut spending on assembly lines and equipment this year by 15 percent to 350 billion yen ($2.8 billion.) ``The situation for capital spending at our company is really tough,'' said Hitachi spokesman Yukiaki Ina. ``Demand from the domestic market is still very weak.'' Japan's gross domestic product probably grew 1.2 percent in the quarter to March 31, according to a Bloomberg News survey of 22 economists after today's capital spending report. Before the report, economists had expected growth of 1.5 percent. The GDP report is due Friday. ``Without the engine of business spending, the recovery will be very gradual,'' said Yoshimasa Maruyama, an economist at Mizuho Research Institute, who said he would lower his estimate of 2.4 percent economic growth in the first quarter.