International Business

Japan Gross Domestic Product Contracts: Japan’s Economic Planning Agency reported Wednesday that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contracted 0.4% in the April-June quarter for a 1.6% annual pace of contraction, well below market expectations for 0.3% growth. Analysts had anticipated some retreat from the strong 1.0% growth fueled during the January-March quarter, but the numbers caught many by surprise. For the latest quarter, personal consumption--which accounts for just under 60% of GDP, slumped 0.7% from the prior quarter. “We had expected growth to fall back, but we didn’t expect it to fall off a cliff, which is what it did,” said Ronald Bevacqua, economist with Merrill Lynch Japan Inc.