Japan's GDP Growth Rate Slowed in 2nd Period
Dow Jones Newswires</br></br>TOKYO -- In a surprise knock to Japan's economic recovery, growth decelerated during the April-to-June period amid a sharp slowdown in corporate capital spending.</br></br>Gross domestic product grew 0.4% in real, or price-adjusted, terms from the previous quarter, or 1.7% on an annualized basis, marking the fifth straight quarter of economic expansion.</br></br>That was much worse than the average forecast of economists surveyed by and Nikkei News of a 1% rise from the previous quarter and 4.2% annualized expansion, and also was below the 3% rise marked by the U.S. in the same period. Japan's second-quarter growth compares with revised 7.4% annualized expansion during the October-to-December period and a 6.6% rise during the January-to-March period.</br></br>However, economists said the disappointing figures didn't suggest the economy has entered a longer-term slowdown.