Japan’s core machinery orders, which exclude volatile sectors such as ships and electric utilities, plunged 12.4% mom to JPY 962.0 billion in May 2026, far worse than market forecasts for a 4.2% decline and a reversal from an 8.7% gain in the prior month. It was the third monthly decline so far this year and the steepest drop since December 2019, reflecting broad-based weakness in business investment. Orders from manufacturers dropped 14.9% (vs 5.1% in April), while non-manufacturing orders fell 9.3% (vs 6.7%). Among manufacturers, the steepest declines came from shipbuilding (-80.5%), information and communication electronics (-23.6%), and business-oriented machinery (-14.3%). In the non-manufacturing sector, orders weakened notably in real estate (-69.3%), transport and postal (-23.3%), and goods leasing (-18.6%). On an annual basis, machinery orders fell 1.5%, swinging from April's 15.6% surge and missing estimates for a 12.9% gain and pointing to the fastest drop in six months.