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Japan fourth-quarter GDP reverses into growth, but misses expectations as rebound underwhelms
Japan’s economy grew 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the previous three months, narrowly avoiding a technical recession. While it was a reversal of the 0.7% contraction in the third quarter, the gross domestic product missed expectations of a 0.4% expansion by economists polled by Reuters. A technical recession is widely defined as two consecutive periods of GDP contraction. On an annualized basis, the economy expanded 0.2%, compared with forecasts of 1.6% and also rebounding from the third quarter’s 2.3% decline. On a year-on-year basis, fourth quarter GDP expanded 0.1%, down from 0.6% in the ... (full story)