Capital Spending Shrinking in Japan

Quarterly data released tonight on capital spending by businesses in Japan, showed a further drop to -9.8%, as shown on the graph below. As can be seen, spending never did get above 2006 and 2007 highs and has been steadily declining since the beginning of this year.

Data provided courtesy of www.forexfactory.com: http://www.forexfactory.com/#chart=36516

The Daily chart below of Japan's Nikkei Stock Futures Index, NKD, shows that it recently dipped below the lows made in March after the earthquake. It's currently sitting at near-term price, trendline, and moving average (50 sma) resistance. As I've written in numerous posts, it's an index that I like to watch as it moved almost identically to the YM, ES, NQ & TF for quite some time after the earthquake...although it has been weaker in October and November. It's one that I'll continue to watch to see if weakness creeps back in, or whether a major support has been established at its recent lows, from which a new bull advance can occur...the 20-day 30-minute intraday (market hours only) chart below shows, however, the same gapping scenario as noted in my last post...so, a sustainable advance above these gaps is questionable.