Japan averted a technical recession as revised official data on Monday showed the economy returned to growth in the the October-December period last year. Japan’s gross domestic product expanded 0.4% in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier. Provisional data last month had showed GDP contracting 0.4%. This is after a revised 3.3% slump in the July-September period. The Japanese economy also expanded 0.1% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, compared with the provisional data that showed a 0.1% contraction. The economy had shrunk 0.8% in the third quarter from the previous three months. A ... (full story)