Japan’s big manufacturers confidence down

TOKYO: The confidence of Japan’s big manufacturers worsened in the three months to September, the central bank’s tankan survey found, raising doubts the government’s “Abenomics” policies of fiscal and monetary stimulus can do much more to improve Japan Inc’s cautious economic outlook.

The service-sector’s mood, however, improved to more than a two-decade high and big firms maintained their bullish capital expenditure plans, offering some relief to policymakers worried at growing signs that Japan may slide into another recession.