Japanese savings shrink

The Nippon Keizai Shimbun is reporting today that "Japanese household financial assets totaled 1,433.5 trillion yen at the end of December, falling 5.7% on the year to a 4-year low, the Bank of Japan's preliminary data released Tuesday showed. This is the sharpest annual drop on record. Slumping stock and investment trust prices took a toll on household assets. Stock holdings plunged 40.2% on