The Great Mike Masters Global Inventory Liquidation pretty much ran its course by year end, and now depleted inventories are beginning to be replaced as high and rising government deficits support incomes and savings:
Japan’s Factory Output Rises as Twice Predicted Pace
by Jason Clenfield
Apr 30 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s industrial output rose for the first time in six months, twice the pace predicted by economists, adding to evidence the worst of the recession may be over.
Factory production climbed 1.6 percent from February, when it dropped 9.4 percent, the Trade Ministry said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 0.8 percent gain.
Companies plan to increase production in April and May to replenish inventories that fell 3.3 percent last month, the report showed. Stocks rose after yesterday’s U.S. gross domestic product figures showed consumer spending jumped the most in two years in the first quarter.
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