Japan

By Marc Chandler The US dollar is going into month and quarter end on a soft note.  The greenback had been generally firm against most of the major foreign currencies, but the Japanese yen, since around mid-month, but the news stream…

Japan has joined the crowd and started an even more aggressive asset purchase program as the Japanese economy weakens. Meanwhile, serious tax hikes are poised to go into effect very soon. Japan plans to cut state spending because the…

By Marc Chandler The Bank of Japan did not disappoint and joined the ECB and Federal Reserve in taking new and non-traditional measures.The BOJ did practically everything that we outlined yesterdayand justified its move by downgrading its…

Why is the global economy hamstrung by heavy debts and weak banks? Or put another way, why doesn’t deleveraging happen, and the weight of debt reduce, and why doesn’t the economy expand so the weak banks can once more become robust and…

The headline story here points out very clearly why Japan has two lost decades behind it. The country tries to gin up growth via fiscal and monetary stimulus when it lapses into recession. A gaping hole opens up in the government's books.…

The Japanese yen was hands down the best performing G10 currency in April, gaining about 3.3% against the dollar and 4.2% against the euro. It appeared to start the new month on a strong note, with the dollar falling to 2 month lows in…

Australian house prices peaked in June 2010. The motive force behind Australia’s bubble was the same as in the USA and Japan: accelerating debt drove rising house prices during the boom. Now in both those countries, decelerating debt is…

As predicted earlier this year, Japan continues to struggle with its energy needs. The chart below shows the recent trend in Japan's imports of residual fuel oil. These fuel imports are quickly translating into a rising trade deficit.

In recent days, policy makers have been most noticeable by their absence. This absence has weakened their credibility and encouraging speculative attention. This is true for Switzerland, Europe and Japan.

As full liquidity returns to the markets for the first time in nearly a week, the US dollar and Japanese yen have rallied. First though weak short euros and long yen cross positions were squeezed in early Asia, but by the time Europe…