JAPAN

Rising Bankruptcy Rate Expected to Continue: Japanese bankruptcies soared 138% in November and will rise further in coming months as small companies suffer from bad real estate and stock market investments, a private research institute said. Bankruptcies of 1,109 corporations with debts of more than $78,100 totaled $6.01 billion in November, a record for that month, the Tokyo Commerce & Industry Research Co. said. Failures shot up 75.2%. Small companies accounted for the lion’s share of the bankruptcy filings in recent months, a departure from the trend of the past few years, said an analyst at the research company.