Japan's economy hasstopped weakening and has shown some signs of picking up. Overseas economies have been moving out of the deceleration phase that had continued since last year and are gradually heading toward a pick-up. In this situation, exports have stopped decreasing. Business fixed investment has shown some weakness on the whole, although resilience has been observed in nonmanufacturing. In contrast, public investment has continued to increase, and housing investment has generally been picking up. Private consumption has been increasingly resilient, assisted by the improvement in consumer sentiment. Reflecting ... (full story)