Japan GDP grows 1 percent in 3rd quarter

Japan has revised its third quarter GDP to show a lower-than-expected rise. Bloomberg reports:

Japan's economy expanded in the third quarter at a slower pace than originally estimated partly after the previous quarter's figure was revised higher.

Gross domestic product grew at an annual 1 percent pace in the three months to Sept. 30, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The rate was less than the median forecast of a 2.3 percent rise in a Bloomberg survey of 16 economists, partly because GDP for the second quarter was revised to a 5 percent pace of growth, from 3.3 percent. Third-quarter growth had previously been estimated at 1.7 percent...

The world's second-largest economy grew a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent in the third quarter from the second...

Other more forward-looking indicators released earlier suggest that growth in Japan will continue. Bloomberg reports a rise in Japan's index of leading economic indicators:

Japan's index of leading economic indicators gained in October for the fifth month this year, signaling the world's second-largest economy will keep expanding.

The index, which measures consumer confidence and other indicators, rose to 80 percent from a revised 41.7 percent in September, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. The median forecast of 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey was for 80 percent. A number at or above 50 indicates faster growth in three to six months.

...while Reuters reports a rise in core machinery orders:

Core private-sector machinery orders, a volatile series regarded as an indicator of capital spending in the coming six to nine months, rose 4.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from the previous month, just below economists' forecasts of a 5.9 percent increase...

Compared with the same month last year, core orders, which exclude those for ships and machinery at electric power firms, rose 8.5 percent, below a median forecast of a 9.9 percent rise in a Reuters poll.

...and bank lending:

Bank lending data earlier in the day also indicated improving business conditions.

It showed the balance of outstanding loans held by Japan's four main categories of banks fell 0.5 percent in November from a year earlier, the smallest decline since the central bank began collecting data in the current form in January 2001...

Excluding special factors such as loan write-offs, the loan balance has been rising from year-ago levels since August. It rose 0.8 percent in November from a year earlier.