For Masaki Kondo's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
The Government Pension Investment Fund made a record cut to its weighting of U.S. government bonds last fiscal year as it increased investments into European sovereign debt.
Japanese funds have reaped a 27% return as a stimulus-fueled rally propelled global equities to a record high.
Options for Japanese investors, among the biggest buyers of global debt, have shrunk this year as central banks slashed rates.
It's still early, but there are signs Japan's equity market is approaching escape velocity when it comes to a force that has entranced it for years. It's the yen, whose level against the dollar has generally been all you needed to know to tell where ...
At the pace the central bank is purchasing government bonds, Japan's sovereign debt market will be extinct by 2027. The ¥616 trillion of JGBs now available to markets would shrink by about ¥52 trillion a year under current policies, making all of the securities either ...
The Bank of Japan's failure to achieve its inflation target will see the yen rebound to its highest since 2012, reversing the results of its unprecedented stimulus, according to Tokai Tokyo Securities Co. The currency will strengthen beyond 85 per dollar "by this fall," said ...
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has shown that a single unprecedented expansion of monetary policy has more impact than a series of smaller steps, and economists say he's preparing to prove it again. The yen has tumbled almost 9 percent since Kuroda doubled monthly ...
The Bank of Japan's stimulus is building a wall against the yen gaining beyond ¥100 to the dollar, amid an investor flight into the currency as a haven, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. The yen has climbed 3 percent against the greenback this year, set ...
The rising cost of overseas travel and imported goods such as Apple computers is spurring concern in Japan's bond market that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's success in fueling inflation will be short-lived. ANA Holding Inc. and Haagen-Dazs Co. increased prices as the yen's inflation-adjusted value ...
Price increases are prompting Japanese shoppers to buy less mayonnaise, showing the fragility of any economic rebound unless wages keep up with living costs. Production of the sauce fell 5.1 percent in the five months that ended on Nov. 30 from a year earlier, which ...
