Japan’s [B]Nomura/JMMA Manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index[/B]rose for the fourth consecutive month in April, printing at 41.4 from 33.8 in the previous month. The reading is still below the “boom-bust” 50 level, meaning the manufacturing sector is still contracting, albeit at the slowest pace since October of last year. The improvement reflected expectations that the breakneck pace of decline in output will begin to slow as firms deplete existing stocks of products and are required to replenish. Indeed, [B]Industrial Production[/B] rose for the first time in five months in March, rising 1.6%, while inventories shrank for the third consecutive month and the inventory-to-shipments fell -4.9% from a record high. Still, the news is far from rosy: overseas sales remain lackluster as Japan’s top trading partners suffer acute economic slowdown, so any pickup in production can be expected to be shallow. This means firms are unlikely to re-hire labor en masse, keeping the lid on spending and thereby overall economic growth for some time to come. Japan’s Trade Ministry was reasonably unimpressed, calling output “stagnant”.