As The BOJ Cuts Rates Japan Grits Its Teeth For Another Bout Of Deflation

Well, suddenly Japan's economy seems to be back in the news. The BOJ today lowered interest rates, inflation seems to have peaked (and deflation may be once more looming on the horizon), householding spending is in decline, employment is falling, exports are languishing as the yen hits one high after another against both the dollar and the euro, Prime Minister Taro Aso is (despite the perilously

Japanese Retail Sales Fall In September

Well, this blog is pretty quiet at the moment, for this my apologies to our readers. Claus is up to his eyes in math in Lausanne, and I am pretty overwhelmed by what is happening in Eastern and Southern Europe at the moment. But don't worry, the interruption in service is only temporary. We will continue, the really interesting part is only just about to start.Basically, most of the things that

Japan Machine Orders Fall For A Third Consecutive Month

Well, while most of the attention out there is justifiably focused on the dramatic events of recent days in the financial markets, the real economy is where the impact of what is happening all ends up, and news on this from in Japan continues to be pretty bleak.Today we learnt that a key barometer of corporate capital spending in Japan plunged in August to its lowest level in more than five years

The Global Economy – Is Deflation the Next Macro Story?

As the horror story of financial markets continues at full speed it may seem a rather futile endeavor to try to make sense of what is increasingly becoming senseless by the day. Yet, you hardly need to be a financial literate to see that the world of finance and banking has been changed for good. I don't think this was neither unwarranted nor unexpected. At some point, US authorities had to let

Japan - While Consumer Inflation Falters, Wages Fall and Industrial Output Plummets

Japan seems to be really racking up a series of economic issues which lead me to think that this recession we are now entering which be neither short lived nor "light". Inflation continues to make its presence felt in a way which is not exactly disastrous after years of deflation, but which does mean that downward pressure on wages as the economy slows pushes consumption back, and that is just

Shutting Down the Samurais?

By Claus Vistesen: LausanneIt is not as if financial markets are short on action at the moment, and financial pundits and analysts are certainly being served an ample amount of ammunition from which to draw inspiration. With the recent news that Warren Buffet will be relinquishing his coffers of 7.5 billion to support the erstwhile jewel of investment banking Goldman Sachs, it is difficult for

Japan - The Recession is Here

By Claus Vistesen: LausanneIt has been a while since I last had Japan under the spotlight where and where I noted that Japan almost certainly would be tumbling into or very close to recession. Since then, data have been pointing only one way really and with the recent downward revision of an already quite awful Q2 GDP reading Japan now seems certain to be flirting with a recession. As per usual,