Tag - bonds

 
Menu
Search
 
June 06, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

BONDS

Since last summer, the Bank of Japan has been reducing its buying of government bonds by ¥400 billion every quarter, but that process will come to a halt, according to former board member Makoto Sakurai.
BUSINESS
Jun 3, 2025
BOJ likely to stop cutting bond purchases in next fiscal year, ex-official says
The government’s cost for debt servicing has risen to about a quarter of its budget for this fiscal year, thanks partly to higher interest rates.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda
BUSINESS / Economy
May 28, 2025
Ueda to monitor risk of high long-term bond yields affecting shorter-term rates
The comments come at a time of heightened concern about volatility at the long end of the bond market.
The Finance Ministry in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
BUSINESS / Markets
May 28, 2025
Weak 40-year bond sale keeps pressure on Japan to tweak issuance
The 40-year yield rose 5 basis points following the sale, to 3.335% as of 4:20 p.m. in Tokyo, while the 30-year rate jumped 7 basis points.
New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, said Dai-ichi Life CEO Tetsuya Kikuta in an interview.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 27, 2025
Dai-Ichi Life sees falling volatility in JGB market
New buyers are entering the market for Japanese government bonds and amplifying volatility, Chief Executive Officer Tetsuya Kikuta said in an interview.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. Paper losses on Japanese bonds held by the company expanded to about ¥1.386 trillion ($9.7 billion) in the year ended March, compared with ¥161.4 billion a year earlier.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2025
Japan's biggest life insurers post $60 billion in unrealized bond losses
The paper losses on their domestic bond holdings in the last fiscal year underscore the risks they face as interest rates climb.
Bank of Japan policy board member Asahi Noguchi says there’s no need to make major changes to the bank’s Japanese government bond purchase plan.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 22, 2025
BOJ dove Noguchi sees no need to change JGB tapering plan
The BOJ is currently trimming its purchases by ¥400 billion ($2.8 billion) a quarter and is on course to reach monthly buying of around ¥2.9 trillion by the spring of 2026.
Economic uncertainty and concern about the Bank of Japan reducing its bond purchases have hit Japanese debt recently, taking the 30-year yield to the highest level since records began in 1999.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 22, 2025
Treasurys vie for demand with Japan’s bonds
Economic uncertainty and concern about the Bank of Japan reducing its bond purchases have hit Japanese debt recently.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. Investors are shunning an auction of government debt and yields are soaring as the BOJ reduces its purchases of government bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 21, 2025
Buyers recoil from Japanese bonds in warning to BOJ on balance-sheet cuts
The rout in the nation’s $7.8 trillion government bond market is most acute for longer-maturity debt.
Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating reflects growing concern over Washington’s unwillingness to confront rising debt, soaring deficits and interest costs — even as global investors keep piling into Treasuries.
COMMENTARY
May 19, 2025
Moody’s tells us what we already know about U.S. debt
Take the firm’s decision to strip the country of its top AAA credit rating seriously, not literally.
Yields in Japan’s $7.8 trillion government debt market are now rising rapidly after years of moving at a glacial pace.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 16, 2025
Japan’s steep bond curve divides investors and challenges economy
Yields in the country’s $7.8 trillion government debt market are shifting higher at breakneck speed after years of moving at a glacial pace.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (right) speaks during a news conference in Milan on Sunday.
BUSINESS
May 5, 2025
Finance chief Kato walks back idea of U.S. Treasury sales as trade chip
Japan held roughly $1.13 trillion in Treasury Securities at the end of February — making it the biggest overseas holder of U.S. debt.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (right) speaks during an Oval Office meeting on April 24 with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store (not pictured) to discuss tariffs.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 4, 2025
A turning point in trade: The U.S. effort to reverse global imbalances
This large trade imbalance is also the primary driver of the U.S. current account deficit, largely due to the gap in goods trade.
The Otemachi Financial City Grand Cube, which houses the Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities head office, in Tokyo. MUMSS has stopped selling so-called structured loans after purchases of the products by regional banks prompted a regulatory backlash.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2025
MUFG joint venture stops selling structured loans after scrutiny
It’s the first known instance of a major brokerage ending this business in what was a booming market.
"It does exist as a card,” said Kato, speaking on a TV Tokyo program Friday, when asked if Japan’s stance of not selling U.S. Treasury holdings could be a negotiation tool.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2025
Japan’s Kato says U.S. Treasury holdings could be negotiation card
The comments come amid negotiations between Japan and the U.S. after President Donald Trump ramped up his global tariff campaign.
There is strong demand for funding from Japanese companies as the economy emerges from years of deflation, and issuers are trying to pinpoint the best time to sell bonds before the Bank of Japan raises interest rates again.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 28, 2025
Revived corporate bond deals in Japan underline need for funding
Volatility is particularly tricky for Japan to navigate given that the market has been less exposed to extreme swings after years of rock-bottom interest rates.
Demand for Japanese debt has risen since March as the Trump administration’s higher tariffs sparked a surge in market volatility.
BUSINESS
Apr 21, 2025
Japan’s superlong bonds draw record foreign inflow on haven bid
Global funds bought a net ¥2.18 trillion of the nation’s debt with original maturities of more than 10 years.
As the global trade war intensifies, the debt, the main investment for Japan’s life insurers, has seen wild swings along with its U.S. counterparts.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 18, 2025
Major Japan life insurer to pile into domestic superlong bonds
Investment decisions by Japan’s life insurers can move global markets, and Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance will be the first among its major peers to report such plans.
Unsold bonds are also being covertly peddled at discounted prices, according to several market participants, including investors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 18, 2025
Japanese municipal bond deals fail to sell as rate swings surge
This month’s heightened market volatility have also led to delays and cancellations of several Japanese corporate bond offerings.
RBC BlueBay Asset Management has shifted to an overweight position in 30-year bonds, as it believes the Bank of Japan may not be in a hurry to raise rates.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 18, 2025
BlueBay piles into Japanese bonds, ditching bets on deeper fall
The firm has shifted to an overweight position in 30-year bonds over the past week as the U.S. trade war darkens the economic outlook.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba hold a news conference at the White House in Washington on Feb. 7. Tokyo's focus on economic strength to promote security contrasts with Washington's current era of unpredictability.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 15, 2025
For real national security, try a Japanese perspective
Genuine national security starts from a strong economy, one that provides for its citizens, incentivizes growth, production and wealth, and invites foreign participation.
Japan’s fertility rate hits record low despite government push
The total number of births dropped to about 686,000, marking the first time the figure has fallen below 700,000, according to a health ministry release on Wednesday.
Japan eyes tougher rules for foreign residents and tax hike for tourists
A tax-free shop in Kyoto in April 2024. Last week, members of a Liberal Democratic Party study group drafted a proposal seeking to scrap the country's tax-free shopping system altogether.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
Is Japan ready to say goodbye to tax-free shopping?
Arrows lead to the tax-free counter at a branch of discount retailer Don Quijote in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
South Korea’s Lee pledges to heal deep wounds as ‘president for everyone’
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung waves with his his wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, following his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday.
Nintendo’s Switch 2 console is finally here
The Switch 2 is Nintendo's first new gaming console in eight years.
Hakuho’s departure highlights worrying sumo trend
Former <i>yokozuna</i> Hakuho performs a ring-entering ceremony at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in February 2020.
Japanese baseball legend Shigeo Nagashima dies at 89
Shigeo Nagashima (left), then the manager of the Tokyo Giants, waves to fans with players and coaches during a victory parade in central Tokyo in 2000. Nagashima died at the age of 89 on Tuesday.
‘A garden is a grand teacher’: The Kamakura Gardener nurtures via YouTube
American Robert Jefferson runs a YouTube channel called The Kamakura Gardener that invites viewers to enjoy the pleasures of gardening, cooking and slow living.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER