Japan's household spending plunged in March and service sector activity shrank at a record pace in April, reinforcing expectations that the COVID-19 pandemic is tipping the world's third-largest economy into deep recession.
Overtime pay, a barometer of strength in corporate activity, also plunged at a record pace in March, data showed, in a sign companies were hit by slowing business even before the government announced a state of emergency in early April.
The weak readings make it a near certainty the economy suffered a second straight quarter of contraction — the technical definition of a recession — in the January to March period, and was on track for a deeper decline in the current quarter as the health crisis kept shoppers home and businesses closed.