Japan factory output has biggest fall on record

TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's contracting economy got a slew of bad news on Friday when government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the jobless rate jumped, and household spending fell.

Many companies, including big names like Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., have announced plans to cut production and workers. The yen's recent surge has also dealt a huge blow to the world's second-largest economy by eroding exporters' overseas earnings.

Japan's economy is already in recession. In the third quarter, it shrank 1.8 percent at an annual pace, worst that first thought. Economists say that while the outlook for the near-term remains bleak, a modest recovery in demand and production may begin to surface in mid-2009, as governments around the world begin to implement stimulus measures announced in recent months.

"We haven't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, but we should be seeing it in a few months," said Takuji Okubo, an economist at Merrill Lynch.