Japan

The yen was the weakest of the major currencies in Q1, losing about 7.2% against the dollar. There was a clear shift in both speculative and portfolio flows. This is just one of seven observations about the Yen via Marc Chandler.

At around 9:00am London time this morning Lord Wolfson held a press conference to announce the five finalists in his economics prize contest. Naturally Lord Wolfson is not looking for just any solutions, as the initial question makes clear,…

Here's the latest from Bloomberg Television, Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report, thinks that Japanese equities are going to outperform this year. Why? For the same reasons I have been saying that a more defensive…

The US dollar is marginally softer as North American players return to their posts. The better-than-expected official Chinese manufacturing PMI (53.1 from 51.0 in Feb and consensus for 50.5) saw steeper losses in the greenback, but the…

The theme of the day is one of economic weakness. New Zealand GDP (0.3% q/q vs. 0.7% prev), HSBC China PMI (48.1 vs. 49.6 prev), euro zone PMI composite (48.7 vs. 49.3 prev), and UK retail sales (-0.8% m/m vs. 0.6% prev ex-auto fuel) all…

Exports are still falling on a year-over-year basis, but at a slower pace. Imports are still rising, but here too the pace is slowing. The swing into trade deficit for Japan happened from both sides. Exports were squeezed by the…

In this issue of the newsletter I want to sketch out a scenario in which rather than analyze policy announcements or make predictions I try to lay out what are the various possible paths open to China. The scenario concerns trade. China’s…

This daily commentary is a bronze level members-only post. I saw a number of commentaries this past weekend and late in the week that were gloomier than one would have expected. In the US, consumer credit is expanding as are jobs and most…

Michael Pettis predicts a hard landing in China. How much will growth slow? The World Bank report apparently doesn’t say, but the consensus has been slowly moving down towards 5-6% annual growth over the next few years. That’s better than…

Never known for being easy, the euro and yen seem particularly difficult to understand presently. During such times it is often best to return to basics. Foreign exchange reflects the cost of money. So do interest rates. The relationship…