Could negative investor sentiment on Japan be wrong?
Japanese stocks soared overnight, February 17, to their highest level in nine months on forecasts of higher economic growth. Of course, the higher forecasts of economic growth were for the United States and the Japanese stocks that soared highest were those of...Egypt doesn't have a corner on the crisis market: S&P downgrades Japan's credit rating
If you’ve let the crisis in Egypt take you mind off some of the globe’s other less splashy crises, let me direct your attention to Japan. On January 26 Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating on Japan to AA-. It was the first cut to Japan’s credit rating by...Japan's intervention to drive down the yen is more dangerous than it looks–remember Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression?
It’s starting to feel a little bit like June 1930. And that’s worrying. In that month President Herbert Hoover, despite deep misgivings, signed the Tariff Act of 1930, known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff after its two authors, into law. By raising U.S. tariffs, the act...More gloom and doom on Japan? I can't wait (Well, actually I can but November seems a good time to buy)
On August 30, the Bank of Japan, the country’s central bank, announced a major new program of monetary stimulus. The governor of the bank even flew back from the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole conclave for the world’s central bankers. The Japanese government announced...Can anyone stop the appreciation in the yen? Not the Bank of Japan or the country's government it appears
Talk about a no-win situation: Japan’s central bank is damned if it doesn’t intervene to weaken the yen and quite possibly double-damned if it does. The Japanese yen climbed yesterday, August 31, to 83.92 to the U.S. dollar. That’s near the 15-year high for the...If the economy is so terrible, why are machinery stocks relatively strong?
Oddly enough on a day, August 31, when investors are again feeling nervous about growth, machinery stocks are showing relative strength. Among the standouts Caterpillar (CAT), Joy Global (JOYG), Bucyrus (BUCY), and Deere (DE). This group has been through a day much...Put more fiber in your portfolio
Last night’s bad economic news out of Japan means this one goes on our watch list. As a Japanese company, Toray Industries (TRYIY.PK), moves with Japan’s stock market. But much of its business and most of its growth are from outside Japan. (For more on the bad...For surprises this a.m. forget US GDP and look to Japan
 All eyes will be on the market reaction to the U.S. GDP report this morning. I think you’d be better rewarded by watching Japan. I don’t think the U.S. GDP number for the quarter that ended way back on June 30 addresses any of the market’s real hopes or fears. The...Trouble in Japan and the U.K. add up to a stronger U.S. dollar
Expect the dollar to keep moving higher in the near term. Credit rating worries in Japan and disappointing economic numbers in the United Kingdom pretty much guarantee that the U.S. dollar will continue to gain on the yen and the pound. On January 25 Standard &...Is Japan betting its future on a new weak yen policy?
Add Japan to the list of country’s counting on a weak currency to dig their economies out of a hole. On his first day in office new Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan lost no time in saying that he’d like a weaker yen. The Japanese currency is already down 9% from...Japan's huge budget gamble will push up global interest rates
It’s a desperate gamble but Japan’s Democratic Party government, headed by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, doesn’t have much choice. To break the hold of deflation on the Japanese economy, the country has to spend money—lots of money—it doesn’t have to stimulate an...Deflation's back in Japan–and why investors should care
Deflation has returned with a vengeance in Japan. And we’re not talking about some short-term dip in prices either.  The Bank of Japan is forecasting that prices in Japan will fall by 1.5% this year, by 1% in 2010, and by 0.7% in 2011. So much for any recovery in the...Flight from the U.S. dollar is pumping up Asian stock markets
You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to know where the money is going. It’s elementary. Investors are taking money out of the United States, which they see as lagging the global economic recovery, and putting it into Asia, which they see as leading the global...It would slow the world's aging, but can you really make people have more kids?
I’m pretty sure that Shanghai’s plan won’t work. Weighed up against the forces pushing couples toward having kids later and then having fewer of them, the government’s incentives are just too small. In Japan cash talks. And loudly. The...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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