HONG KONG — Asian markets were mixed in quiet holiday trade today amid new evidence that companies and consumers alike were struggling as the global economy slumps.

In Japan, automakers and other manufacturers slashed their output last month by 8.1 percent — the biggest drop since records were started in 1953 — in the face of slowing demand overseas. Production was expected to slide further in the months ahead with an 8 percent fall projected for December, the government said, aggravating the recession in the world's No. 2 economy.

Major exporters including Toyota and Sony have taken a beating since the U.S. economy, a huge buyer of Asian goods, slipped into recession and American consumers began cutting back their spending.

There was more bad news out of the U.S. overnight as data suggested the holiday season, typically the busiest and most critical for retailers, was shaping up as the most dismal in years. Holiday sales at U.S. retailers shrank between 5.5 percent and 8 percent from a year ago, according to preliminary figures from a MasterCard Advisors unit. The weak economy and strong winter storms were largely to blame.

"Sentiment is relatively cautious given the slew of numbers have been pretty poor. On the economic front and the corporate front there's nothing to cheer about," said Song Seng Wun, economist at CIMB-GK in Singapore.