Japan falls back into recession

Japan has dropped back into a recession, after GDP shrank for a second successive quarter.

GDP growth between July and September fell by 1.6%, far below analysts' expectations of growth of 2.1%. That followed a revised 7.3% contraction in the second quarter. The fall means the second stage of the proposed sales tax hike, which will be decided next month, may no longer go through. Japan's government had been hoping to raise the sales tax from 8% to 10% next October. Release of the weak data also comes just weeks after the Bank of Japan announced it was adding billions to its QE programme. The Nikkei 225 was down almost 3% this morning to 16,973 on the news.     Meanwhi...