Japanese economy improving

The Japanese economy is clearly improving. From Reuters:

Japan's index of coincident economic indicators rose a preliminary 0.7 points in December from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said on Monday, in a sign that the country's economy is in a recovery trend.

The index of leading economic indicators, compiled using data such as the number of job offers and consumer sentiment and a gauge of the economy a few months ahead, climbed 0.8 points from November.

But German factory orders gave back some of the November gains in December. From Bloomberg:

German factory orders fell in December after jumping five times more than economists expected in the previous month.

Orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, dropped 3.4 percent from November, when they surged 5.2 percent, the Economy Ministry in Berlin said today. Economists forecast a 1.5 percent decline for December, according to the median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. From a year earlier, orders climbed 19.7 percent, when adjusted for working days.