On Daiwa Securities Group Inc.'s Tokyo trading floor, Yukio Ikehata is spending more time listening to clients than processing orders to buy stocks.
"With volatility so high, a lot of investors are waiting things out," said Ikehata, head of international sales trading at Daiwa. "Everyone is having to be patient. Because clients aren't moving, I'm listening to stories about how tough they're finding it."
Less than three weeks ago, Japan's brokers and investors could practically do their jobs on autopilot: equities were meandering higher, the currency was slowly weakening and volatility was, by one measure, the least since 1989.