Asia Sidelined As Its Waits For Europe To Provide Movement

European Morning Update

Releases from Japan:

	Forecast	Actual
Japan - January	1.5430-72	1.0255-83
Machine Orders (MoM)	+2.6%	19.6%
Machine Orders (YoY)	- 4.5%	11.4%
Japan - February
Money Supply M2+CD (YoY)	+2.1%	+2.3%
Broad Liquidity (YoY)	+3.5%	+3.5%
Eco Watcher's Survey: Current	31.8 (prior)	33.6
Eco Watcher's Survey: Outlook	35.8 (prior)	39.5

Japan's machinery orders surged over January by a whopping 19.6% MoM and +11.4% YoY to swamp forecasts of a mere +2.6% and - 4.5% respectively. It is a very volatile series but the sheer size of the bounce is quite marked as the figure is often used as a leading indicator of corporate capital investment, which accounts for about 15% of Japan's gross domestic product. It will certainly raise some hopes that Q1 will still manage to provide a positive GDP. ....more