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May 02, 2024
 

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ECONOMY

Although current FX interventions are not yet a significant concern for the U.S. Treasury market, large-scale interventions by major holders like Japan or China could pose risks in the future.
COMMENTARY
May 2, 2024
U.S. bonds brace for impact of Japan’s currency moves
Japan holds substantial dollar reserves, but if depleted, it might resort to selling U.S. bonds, though other measures would likely be considered first.
A guide stands next to a CV9040 infantry fighting vehicle and other military hardware at an exhibition displaying equipment captured by the Russian army from Ukrainian forces in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at the Victory Park open-air museum on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow on Wednesday
WORLD / Politics
May 2, 2024
Russians who fled war return, in boost for Putin’s war economy
Many Russians are returning to their homeland after finding countries abroad have become less accommodating for them — a gain for the domestic economy.
The weak yen impacts the airline industry multiple ways, as it boosts foreign currency revenue from international flights but negatively affects travelers from Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 2, 2024
Japan firms reach pain threshold as yen keeps testing lows against the dollar
The currency's sustained decline makes planning difficult for all firms and can add costs across the whole supply chain.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda holds a news conference after a policy meeting at the BOJ's headquarters in Tokyo on March 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 2, 2024
BOJ saw need to let markets drive yields upon March exit: minutes
The bank ended eight years of negative interest rates and its bond yield control at its March policy meeting.
An electric screen displaying the Nikkei share average and yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
May 1, 2024
For Japan Inc., the weak yen may be too much of a good thing
The currency's weakness has pushed up costs of raw materials, food and fuel.
U.S. President Joe Biden makes an appearance at an infrastructure construction project in Woodstock, New Hampshire, in November 2021. Bridges and sewage systems may seem unglamorous, but common assets such as these will form the basis of economic growth for years to come.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2024
The West’s new infrastructure imperative
A dim future awaits any society that allows its infrastructure to degrade and underinvests in new needs.
The root cause of yen weakness lies in the U.S., not Japan, with the currency falling to its weakest since around 1990.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 1, 2024
Japan should leave its currency bazooka at home
The root cause of yen weakness lies in the U.S., not Japan. That makes the latter's options very limited.
An analysis of the Bank of Japan's accounts suggests an intervention of about ¥5.5 trillion took place on Monday to prop up the yen.
BUSINESS / Markets
May 1, 2024
BOJ accounts suggest Japan intervened to support yen
The Bank of Japan said its current account will probably fall ¥7.56 trillion — much bigger than the drop of about ¥2.1 trillion estimated.
Kirin Beverage will raise the suggested retail price of its 1.5-liter Gogo no Kocha tea product to ¥432 from ¥400.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2024
Prices of 417 food items to go up in Japan in May
Although the figure fell for the fifth straight month, the rate of price increase averaged 31%, the highest since the monthly statistics began in 2022.
Despite being a major player in industries like technology and manufacturing, South Korea's defense exports have historically lagged behind.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2024
South Korea’s cheap weapons still won’t sell themselves
Despite being a major player in industries like technology and manufacturing, South Korea's defense exports have historically lagged behind.
Japan's industrial production rose 3.8% in March from February, as demand picked up after two straight months of declines.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024
Japan’s factory output records weakest quarter since pandemic
The yen’s plunge to a fresh 34-year low versus the dollar could spur a resurgence of cost-push inflation via higher costs for imports of food and energy.
Japan's government debt has grown to the equivalent of more than 250% of the nation’s economy, more than any of its peers.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024
Japan’s debt dilemma may doom any FX intervention, Brooks says
The consequences have been a sharply weaker yen, which has lost more than a quarter of its value against the U.S. dollar since March 2022.
Krishna Srinivasan, director of Asia and Pacific at the International Monetary Fund, wrote in a blog post that global disinflation and the prospect of lower central bank interest rates had made a soft landing more likely.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 30, 2024
IMF boosts Asia growth forecast this year on China and India prospects
It expects Asia to grow 4.5% from the prior year — 0.3 percentage points higher than its previous forecast but still slower than last year’s 5% pace.
TikTok raised eyebrows last month when it mobilized users to petition against a potential ban, demonstrating its influence on Americans.
BUSINESS / Tech
Apr 30, 2024
TikTok and Tesla just the start of U.S.-China clash over Big Data
Data security is again taking center stage in the intensifying rivalry between the U.S. and China.
Customers look at chocolate bars at Cacao Store, a specialist chocolate store, in Tokyo. Japan is a large market for high-value confectionery and it sources about 75% of its cocoa imports from Ghana.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 30, 2024
Chocoholics in Japan set for sticker shock after cocoa price surge
Crop declines in top suppliers Ivory Coast and Ghana leave buyers struggling for beans and prices more than doubling since the start of the year.
Japan's vice minister of finance for international affairs, Masato Kanda, poses for a photograph during an interview at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo in January 2022.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 30, 2024
Japan forex authorities ready '24 hours,' top currency diplomat Kanda says
Masato Kanda again declined to comment on whether the Finance Ministry had intervened to prop up the yen a day earlier.
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 29, 2024
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
Japan's top currency official declined to comment on Monday, when asked if authorities in Tokyo had intervened in the currency market to prop up the yen.
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump announces Jerome Powell as his nominee to become chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington in November 2017.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 29, 2024
Trump’s economic confidants battle for sway on taxes and Fed policy
For months, the Trump campaign has been trying to rein in proposals from various factions with limited success.
The skyline of central Mumbai's financial district
JAPAN
Apr 28, 2024
India seen overtaking Japan in nominal GDP in 2025
Japan's economy is expected to fall to the fifth largest in the world. In February, GDP data showed that Japan was overtaken by Germany in 2023.
The combined market capitalization of shares listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime section stood at roughly ¥970 trillion at the end of last month.
BUSINESS
Apr 28, 2024
TSE Prime's market cap nears ¥1 quadrillion two years after shake-up
The total market capitalization of the new top tier has grown some 40% while the number of companies fell 10%.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Did Japan intervene to prop up the yen? Analysts think it did.
A man walks past an electronic board displaying the exchange rate for the yen against the U.S. dollar (right) in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Number of vacant homes in Japan hits record high of 9 million
A vacant house in Tokyo is seen demolished in January 2020.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

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