News Summary: Japan's Sept trade deficit widens
WORRYING TILT: Japan's trade deficit widened in September compared with a year earlier as exports plunged 10.3 percent, as Europe's debt crisis curbed demand for Japanese products and antagonism with China damaged economic ties.
THE DETAILS: The deficit for the month was 558.6 billion yen ($7.2 billion), the Finance Ministry said Monday, higher than the forecasts of many analysts and bigger than a deficit of about $3.7 billion a year earlier.
THE OUTLOOK: Central bank governor Masaaki Shirakawa told a group of the bank's regional managers that the world's third-largest economy is "leveling off." He warned that the risk of shocks to the financial system from the debt crisis in Europe remains high and slowing global growth is hitting manufacturing and exports.
