A pedestrian walks past a restaurant in Yokohama, Japan, in February. Photo: Akio Kon/Bloomberg NewsTOKYO—Japan’s economy contracted in the first three months of 2018 due to weak private consumption and business investment, putting the brakes on the nation’s longest growth streak in 28 years, government data showed. The world’s third-largest economy shrank at an annualized pace of 0.6% in the January-March period, compared with revised 0.6% growth in the final quarter of 2017. The contraction was the first since the final quarter of 2015. It comes as the Japanese economy seemed to have finally escaped decades of stagnation, helped by economic policies including the Bank of Japan’s aggressive monetary easing.

Source: Wall Street Journal May 16, 2018 00:56 UTC