Japanese Accelerated Perf Fund Share Discussion Threads

[briarberry] 02/2/2011 00:37

Japanese cars, exports up, home sales down...


TOKYO, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's exports of automobiles rose 16.7 percent from a year earlier in December, marking the 12th successive month of increase, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association said in a report on Monday.

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The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association however also said Monday that vehicle production in the month of December slumped 5.1 percent from a year earlier to 747,947 units, marking the third straight monthly decline.

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However, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association reported Monday that new vehicle sales in Japan fell 28.3 percent from a year earlier to 179,666 units in the month of December, marking the fourth straight year-on-year fall after retreating 30.7 percent in the previous month.

[briarberry] 28/1/2011 23:33

More than a quarter of shoplifters arrested in Japan in 2010 were over the age of 65, police have said, as the number of pensioners committing the crime hit a record high.

[briarberry] 27/1/2011 19:11

TOKYO - A leading credit ratings agency downgraded Japan's long-term sovereign debt on Thursday, a sharp reminder of the heavy burden plaguing the world's third-largest economy at levels that stand out even in an increasingly debt-ridden world.

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But by size, Japan's ballooning deficit is an anomaly. Japan's liabilities will hit 204 percent of its gross domestic product this year, overshadowing even the 137 percent for beleaguered Greece, according to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

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Despite the staggering size of Japan's debt-to-G.D.P. ratio, most of Japan's debt is held domestically, unlike that of Greece or the United States. And Japan runs a current account surplus in trade, putting it on a more stable financial footing. With Japanese household assets close to $17 trillion, Japan has a big pool of domestic deposits to draw on, and government policy encourages long-term investors like banks, pension funds and insurance companies to buy up bonds.

[briarberry] 13/1/2011 16:39

The Land of The Falling Prices

The success of the companies in Japan has helped consumers adjust to deflation. The average household owns 1.4 cars and 2.4 color televisions, about a quarter more than in 1990, a Cabinet Office survey shows. The proportion of people content with their standard of living was 63.9 percent last year, compared with 63.1 percent in 1989, a government report said.

"Everyone knew deflation was bad for jobs and bad for the economy, but gradually, households and companies just got used to it," said Martin Schulz, a former Bank of Japan researcher and now senior economist in Tokyo at Fujitsu Research Institute.

"The Japanese have seen their wages stagnate, so the only thing that increases their real income is lower prices," said Schulz. "Companies don't expect markets to expand anytime soon since this is an aging society, so the smart policy for businesses in Japan has been to focus on how to cut prices."

Monthly pay dropped to an average 315,294 yen in 2009, the lowest level since the government started tracking the data in 1990. Four out of five Japanese say higher costs would be "unfavorable," according to a central bank survey.

"It's not like I'm promised any pay raises," said Momoko Noguchi, 24, who has watched Japan's consumer prices fall for more than half her life. Noguchi has two part-time jobs, gets everything from nail polish to dining plates at her local 100- yen ($1.20) store and pays 400 yen or less for lunch. "I hope prices keep falling."

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For Japan, with the fastest-aging population in the developed world, a sudden rebound in prices would hurt pensioners and retirees living off savings.

"It's amazing what you can buy with 100 yen now, we didn't have 100-yen stores before," said Sachiko Enokida, 80, who lives on her bimonthly pension checks from the government and has witnessed inflation's ups and downs since the 1940s. "After the war, we all thought this was going to be the last year before we starved. Then things really boomed and people were buying apartments like crazy and you saw wealth everywhere. I would hate for things to get expensive again."

With almost one fourth of the population over 65 years old, Japan chose to stay in deflation, said Feldman. That turned cash into an investment, as money left in bank deposits gained in purchasing power the longer it stayed there. Today, Japanese households keep 56 percent of their financial assets in cash, compared with 14 percent in the U.S.

[briarberry] 24/12/2010 16:02

The Japanese government has approved a record level of spending of 92.4 trillion yen ($1.1tn; £711bn) for the next financial year.

The cabinet agreed the draft budget, which must still be approved by parliament before 31 March.

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Japan's public debt is expected to reach 891tn yen, or 184% GDP, by the end of March 2012, the highest among developed nations.

[praipus] 10/12/2010 09:35

Weiss buying AJG,JAC and MWJ. Laxey and QVT buying FJV and JSM

Tracking the arbitragers!

[a.fewbob] 10/12/2010 00:37

Doesn't this board prove Warren Buffet wrong? If I had been greedy when others were fearfull, would I not have been in a dead asset for what.... 20 years?!!

[briarberry] 09/12/2010 01:57

Bank lending in Japan fell 2.1 percent in November from a year earlier, marking the 12th successive month of decline, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said in a report on Wednesday.

[praipus] 19/11/2010 21:57

Weiss has been buying more JAC.

[don muang] 18/11/2010 08:27

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average is on the verge of surging by more than 50 percent as long-term equity and currency cycles converge for the first time, according to a review of price patterns by Japan's second-ranked chart analyst.

[knowing] 15/11/2010 07:37

Japan's economy expanded faster than expected between July and September, but much of the growth was due to one-off factors.

[briarberry] 11/11/2010 14:32

Japanese core machinery orders fell 10.3% in September.

[briarberry] 06/11/2010 10:56

Japan - BOJ to buy REITs, Nikkei 225 ETFs and government debt...

Japan's central bank today held the overnight call rate to between zero and 0.1 percent. It also said in Tokyo that part of its 5 trillion yen ($62 billion) asset fund will be used to purchase Japanese real-estate investment trusts with credit ratings of AA or higher.
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The BOJ also said today it will buy ETF that track the Nikkei 225 Stock Average and the Topix index, and will start purchasing government debt early next week. It plans to buy 3.5 trillion yen in government debt, 500 billion yen each of corporate bonds and commercial paper, 450 billion yen in exchange-traded funds and 50 billion yen for real-estate investment trusts, over a year.

[briarberry] 01/11/2010 12:28

China + India still expanding but Japan showing signs of a slowdown...


In Japan - where the government warned last month of an economic standstill due to the strong yen - car sales fell 27% compared with a year ago, to their lowest October level on record.

[briarberry] 13/10/2010 14:28

Asia is still doing better than us but will it last ???


Japan's machinery orders unexpectedly jumped in August marking the third straight month of growth, the Japanese cabinet office has said.

Core machinery orders, a closely-watched indicator of future business investment, rose 10.1% in August to 843.5bn yen ($10.3bn; £6.5bn).

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However, overseas demand, an indicator of prospects for Japanese exports, fell 3.7% in its first decline for four months.

[smithjackson] 08/10/2010 00:22

Also please do not post duplicate messages. If you see the same message on the web page, either go to another web page on the web site or skip web site altogether and go to next web site ( select "I Did Not Post On This Website" option ). URL Text is the label or caption for the clickable link, it is also auto included as part of the anchor in message but sometimes it may need to be adjusted in order to display properly.

[briarberry] 05/10/2010 14:53

BOJ Steps Up Asset Purchases, Lowers Benchmark Interest Rate

[gpujols] 22/9/2010 20:43

We really need to see that is a conservative and intelligent decision from the Minister of Finance of Japan, to not take any immediate action. Respect and support your position, and to wait and observe the subsequent financial fluctuations as then if you make the right decision to respect.
Atte.

[briarberry] 15/9/2010 16:22

Japan's leading shares rose as much as 3% after authorities intervened in the currency markets to weaken the value of the yen against the dollar.

The central bank stepped in to sell yen and buy dollars, a day after the yen hit a 15-year high against the dollar.
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Japan did not reveal the size of the intervention, but analysts suggested its authorities could have sold as much as 1 trillion yen ($11bn; £7.5bn), one of the largest amounts it has spent in a single day.
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Toyota has estimated that every one-yen rise versus the dollar reduces earnings by about 30bn yen.