Japan

by Marc Chandler Three observations to share about China, regarding purchases of Japanese assets, suspension of 3-year debt auction for tomorrow and rate hike possibility. First, Japan's MOF reported that China bought JPY262.6 bln of…

Ever since the U.S. financial crisis in 2008 there have been many comparisons to Japan and their "lost decade." Most comparisons mark the start of each financial crisis as the end of 1989 for Japan and 2007 for the U.S. We believe each…

by Michael Pettis Last week I suggested that slowly the consensus is shifting towards a recognition that Chinese growth may slow sharply in the next few years.  When I discuss this prospect with analysts and investors, however, they…

Investors and policy makers alike are befuddled by the yen. Its strength continues to defy the traditional explanatory models that typically give a privileged position to risk appetite, interest rate differentials, or external positions.…

by Michael Pettis The seemingly imminent and inexorable rise of the renminbi as a major, even dominant, reserve and trading currency, has been almost as widely heralded as the equivalent rise of the Japanese yen just twenty years ago. Even…

Long term (over 20-30 years) demographics will favor the U.S. over Germany and China in international trade.

This time last year, The Economist’s survey of global house prices was a sea of negative numbers. That was then. Of the 20 markets tracked in our latest survey, only four still posted year-on-year declines and only Ireland’s property…

In regards to Paul Krugman's argument's on China in the video in the last post, I think this quote from David Rosenberg's latest daily market commentary is spot on: Since 1985, dollar-yen has sunk nearly 70% and yet the US has the…

Here is something interesting.  The Chinese have reversed policy on diversification into the yen. It was my assumption that the Japanese government's objections would be acknowledged by the Chinese and that they were not the most…

I have just been listening to Ben Davies' podcast (see also FT Alphaville here) from Hinde Capital about the funding issues of the Japanese government and the points he makes are important. I have used the metaphor of Japan as a bumblebee…