Tag - economy

 
 

ECONOMY

Blackstone is working on more acquisitions in Japan with several bids out and properties like hotels and data centers in the pipeline.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 14, 2023
Blackstone eyes more Japan property after selling $4.5 billion
Real estate investments in Japan have been rosy compared to other countries, where rising costs have squeezed finances and workers have shunned offices.
As long as coal plants are still operating, it is a good idea to make them capture their carbon dioxide emissions. But the sooner that coal is replaced by renewables, the better it will be for the planet.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 11, 2023
Carbon capture and the changing economics of power generation
Carbon capture policies could unwittingly extend the life of dirtier energy sources.
The Bank of Japan's attempts to dismantle ultraloose monetary policies have led to unexpected market reactions and left some investors struggling to understand the central bank's intentions.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 10, 2023
The BOJ gets a new doctrine. It’s just keeping it to itself.
The BOJ is likely sincere when it says the 2% price goal is still some way off, even if one member seemingly believes it’s on the horizon.
Japan's wholesale inflation slowed in July year-on-year due to softer energy costs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 10, 2023
Japan's wholesale inflation slowed in July for seventh month
The slowing pace of increases, due to softer energy utility costs, suggest pressures that drove up consumer prices are running their course.
People buy food at stalls promoting China's digital yuan, or e-CNY, during the 2022 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing in September 2022.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 10, 2023
With blockchain 'bridge', China challenges U.S. dollar dominance
A Beijing-backed digital prototype for sending money around the world without relying on U.S. banks is advancing quickly.
A shopper at a Beijing grocery store in 2022. China's consumer and producer prices have both declined from 12 months ago, indicating that the world’s second-largest economy may be weakening.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 9, 2023
China shows signs of deflation as consumer and factory prices fall
A prolonged property market slump, plunging demand for exports and subdued consumer spending are weighing on China's economic recovery.
Some strategists think that foreign investors, who had helped drive one of the world’s biggest rallies so far this year, may pose risks for Japan’s stock market in the second half.
BUSINESS / Markets
Aug 9, 2023
Global funds that drove Topix rally may now threaten Japan gains
A lack of bold policy measures by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and China's economic slowdown are also seen as curbing the bullish trend.
Containers stored at the Yangshan Deep-Water Port in Shanghai in 2020
BUSINESS
Aug 9, 2023
Not decoupling, but West and China drift apart
Official data showed a 14.5% drop in July exports amid weak consumer demand in the world markets served by China — the fastest decline since the pandemic.
Now in their fourth year, Hong Kong's security crackdowns have led to the exodus of hundreds of thousands of people, resulting in grave manpower shortages and a stain on the city's image as place to do business.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 9, 2023
Hong Kong needs to protect its image as a financial center
In Lee’s view, while reviving Hong Kong’s role as a global financial center, it is vital to continue the crackdown on perceived threats.
A recent report showed that the number of career bureaucrats leaving government to join startups had quadrupled over the two years through fiscal 2022.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 8, 2023
Japan’s young civil servants are growing disillusioned
Big companies remain the most popular career option, attracting 34% of those who change jobs.
A market in Kolkata, India. Developing nations are demanding control of their resources, in part by insisting on factories in their own countries.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 8, 2023
The Global South breaks away from the U.S.-led world order
Developing nations are demanding control over their resources and reordering relationship that date back to colonial times.
Members and supporters of the San Francisco Taxi Workers Alliance attend a rally outside the California Public Utilities Commission headquarters in San Francisco on Monday.
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 8, 2023
Will AI be an economic blessing or curse? History offers clues
History shows the economic impact of technological advances is generally uncertain, unequal and sometimes outright malign.
Eisuke Sakakibara, former top finance official, says Japanese authorities are unlikely to intervene in foreign exchange markets to prop up the yen.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Japan's 'Mr. Yen' Sakakibara expects no intervention
The yen has fallen around 14% since the Fed began rapidly raising rates to combat soaring inflation in March 2022.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference, following the central bank's policy meeting, on July 28.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
BOJ debated chance of sustained inflation at July meeting
The central bank's upbeat view on the inflation outlook suggests they are now more convinced that conditions for phasing out stimulus could fall in place.
Technical trainees from Vietnam work at a knitwear factory in the city of Mitsuke, Niigata Prefecture, in February 2019.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023
Japan is bringing in more foreign nationals than you think
Japan isn’t an outlier when it comes to low fertility rates, merely a front-runner.
Chef and restaurant owner Rikuo Morimoto, who runs the restaurant Andante in Tokyo, on May 1. A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 6, 2023
'Era of mass closures': The Japanese firms with no successors
A 2019 government report estimated that about 1.27 million small business owners would be 70 or older by 2025 and have no successors.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. After its downgrade of the U.S., Fitch’s AAA club now consists of Germany and Australia, along with seven others, including smaller, rich countries such as Switzerland and Luxembourg.
BUSINESS
Aug 4, 2023
Pristine AAA bond universe just got a whole lot smaller
Fitch's U.S. downgrade is the latest example of a decadelong trend in rich economies as worries about high and rising debt burdens come to the fore.
A monitor in Tokyo shows the 225-issue Nikkei stock average dropping more than 700 points on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
Japan shares post biggest one-day drop this year
Then benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average closed down 2.30% at 32,707.69 — its sharpest one-day drop since Dec. 20.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. BOJ Deputy Gov. Shinichi Uchida has said there is still a long way to go before conditions fall into place for the bank to raise its short-term interest rate target.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
BOJ tweak not prelude to ultralow rates exit: deputy governor
Shinichi Uchida said there is still a long way to go before the BOJ can raise its short-term interest rate target from the current minus 0.1%.
China and India both began liberalizing their economies around the same time in the 1980s. But China invested more in human-capital and is now benefiting from that decision.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023
Unlike China, India cannot be an economic superpower
In the 1980s, the belief among observers was that an authoritarian Chinese regime would mismanage its economy while a democratic India would thrive.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?