Japan's core machinery orders fell more than expected in January, government data showed on Monday, highlighting concerns about the economy's sluggish recovery. The government also downgraded its view of machinery orders to "showing some weakness" from "stalling". Core orders, a highly volatile data series regarded as a leading indicator of capital spending in the six to nine months ahead, fell 1.7% in January from the previous month, Cabinet Office data showed. That compared with a 1.0% drop expected by economists in a Reuters poll. On a year-on-year basis, core orders, which exclude volatile numbers from ... (full story)