Playing the Waiting Game in Japan

(cross-post from Alpha.Sources)As I reported a couple of days ago on Japan the next few days would see the release of a slew of economic indicators pointing forward to the future course from the BOJ in Q3 and Q4 (with the nature of the just released data I find it very unlikely that the BOJ will jump-start markets with a surprise raise in July). These 'few days' have now passed and we can now do

Japan Industrial Production

The latest data on Japanese industrial production have raised some eyebrows. Below I am putting up a quick excel chart of manufacturing and mining output on a monthly basis since April 2006 I have just knocked out. (The raw data can be accessed from here).The trend should be reasonably clear, and certainly the recent wave seems to have peaked back in December last year. Of course, as Claus was

Tokyo real estate still too expensive

Burbed came up with this link:Japanese find sleep, shelter in cyber cafes Men make use of the internet service in the private rooms of an internet cafe in Tokyo May 2, 2007. Some low-wage earning young people who cannot afford apartments in Tokyo are choosing to live in internet cafes, which are cheaper than a hotel and even offer showers, microwaves and large libraries of manga to read. Picture

Where There is Hope ...

Cross-post from Alpha.SourcesSmall things matter in terms of the Japanese economy and especially when it comes to the indicators for domestic demand and inflation. As such, the next couple of days will see important releases on the Japanese economy which, according to the forecasts, are going to come out on the positive side thus further bolstering the BOJ towards a potential hike in August or

Toyota and Honda increasing factory capacity in Japan

Brad Setser points to a WSJ article to the effect that "Toyota has invested three times as much in Japan as in North America over the past three years. Honda is building its first auto factory in Japan in nearly three decades. " The context of Setser's discussion is that exchange rates result in greater profits for these two companies from cars manufactured in Japan and sold in the US than from

Summer Bonus Season

Just following up on Scott's point here, there is more news from Bloomberg this morning:The yen traded near the weakest in more than four years versus the dollar and a record low against the euro on speculation Japanese workers being paid bonuses this month will invest overseas for higher returns. Finance companies will market more than 1.5 trillion yen ($12.1 billion) of foreign-currency

Japan's Shifting Trade Surplus

The big headline today is the increase in Japan's trade surplus, but the important news behind the headline is the shifting composition of Japan's exports. According to the Financial Times:Japan’s exports rose 15.1 per cent to a record high for May, but brisk imports and sluggish shipments to the US meant the trade surplus rose a slower-than-expected 9.3 per cent from a year earlier.Exports rose