The capital spending figure including software tracks all investment by Japanese corporations in new capital including expenditure on software, electronics and IT-related products. Capital spending including software is separate from regular capital spending because software is significantly different investment than traditional forms of capital such as machinery. Software is not physical capital, has little or no resale value, and generally becomes obsolete far faster than traditional capital. Overall, capital spending serves as an important indicator of growth and plays large part in GDP. This means that as capital spending increases it signals a corporate expansion and leads to future growth in the Japanese economy. Furthermore, as a gauge of corporate spending this figure is also indicative of business confidence. The headline figure is the percentage change from the previous year.