Economy

The Bank of Japan delivered its bleakest assessment of the economy since the Asian financial crisis of 1997 and 1998 in a sign that a global slump sparked by the tight credit market in the United States might be spreading too quickly for Japan to avert recession. (New York Times)

(CNN)

(Reuters)

The end of Japan’s first-quarter earnings has left non-manufacturing companies more pessimistic about the outlook for this fiscal year, contributing to the Topix index’s 10 per cent decline since the beginning of June. (FT.com)

(MarketWatch)

(Yomiuri)

(Reuters)

(New York Times)

(Yomiuri)

(Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg)

(Morgan Stanley)

(Kyodo)

(Asahi)

(FT.com)

(Bloomberg)

(Wall Street Journal)

(Bloomberg)

(AP)

A Marxist novel written in 1929 has climbed high on Japan's best-seller lists, reflecting growing anxiety about job security and widening income gaps in the Japanese economy. (International Herald Tribune)