Japanese Machine Tool Orders Up 7.2% in October

Japan's metal-cutting machine tool orders in October reached 116.6 billion yen, an increase of 7.2% from a year ago, marking the 49th consecutive month of continuous growth, according to Japan Machine Tool Builders Association. The revised increase is better than the preliminary forecast of 6.8% a week ago. In September, the orders of machine tools increased 5.4%, compared with 4.8% in August. Of the whole, oversea orders rose 20% to 58.6 billion yen, the 14th consecutive month of growth, while the domestic orders dropped 3.3% to 58 billion yen, the fourth consecutive month of decline