Some Good News And Some Not So Much

from Bloomberg
Good
China’s industrial production grew at a faster pace in February as a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus plan took effect.

Output rose 11 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today. That compared with a 3.8 percent gain in January and February combined and 5.7 percent in December.

Not so great
Japan’s economy contracted at the fastest pace since 1974 last quarter as exports, output and business spending collapsed.

Gross domestic product shrank an annualized 12.1 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, less than the 12.7 percent reported last month, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median estimate of economists was for a 13.4 percent decline.

Bad
The cost of borrowing in dollars is rising as the global recession deepens and central bank efforts to prop up the financial system fail to prevent a growing number of banks from requiring government bailouts.