The government on Thursday downgraded its assessment of a key indicator of economic trends, suggesting Japan may have already entered a recessionary phase rather than marking its longest growth streak since the end of World War II, as previously believed.The Cabinet Office's coincident index of business conditions for January was down 2.7 points from the previous month at 97.9 against the 2015 base of 100. It was the index's third consecutive monthly decline, prompting the office to say that it was "signaling a possible turning point." Prior to that, it had said conditions were "weakening."…READ FULL ARTICLE
