Tag - economy

 
 

ECONOMY

The Bank of Japan is facing hardly any signs of opposition to scrapping its negative interest rate as the strongest price growth in decades weighs on households and businesses.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 28, 2024
BOJ should make straightforward policy shift, top finance professor says
Exiting policy should be like business as usual, said Hiroshi Yoshikawa, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and a friend of BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei index is on a roll, having broken its bubble-era record last week.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 27, 2024
What explains the recent surge in Japanese stock prices?
Japan needs for increase domestic capital investment, technological innovation and sound risk-taking to improve long-term competitiveness.
In early February, the Finance Ministry announced that government debt at the end of last year had reached a record high of ¥1.2 quadrillion.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 27, 2024
With downfall of Abe faction, some see a shift in Japan’s debt debate
The faction has long promoted fiscal stimulus, but its demise combined with wider economic conditions could open up space for a different approach.
Japan's consumer price index for January rose 2% from a year ago, topping estimates to support the Bank of Japan's move to end its negative interest rate policy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 27, 2024
January inflation topped forecasts, data shows, supporting BOJ policy shift
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2% from a year ago, while prices of processed food gained 5.9% and prices for lodging increased by 27%.
Stacked containers at an industrial port in Tokyo on Feb. 15. The weakness of the yen against the U.S. dollar boosts exporters' profits when repatriated.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 26, 2024
Combined profits at major Japan firms expected to hit record
The net profits of 1,430 companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange are estimated to total ¥47.06 trillion in the current fiscal year, up 12.9%.
A screen in Tokyo shows the level of the 225-issue Nikkei stock average after it posted an all-time closing high on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 26, 2024
Japan’s Nikkei index sets record high for second consecutive day
The Topix was also up 0.49%, closing at 2,673.62.
U.S. President Joe Biden announces new provisions in March 2022 requiring the government to buy more made-in-America goods.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 26, 2024
Biden doesn’t get why we need the WTO
What do Biden and Trump have in common? Protectionism. As a result, the 13th WTO ministerial conference underway in Abu Dhabi is doomed to fail.
Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala addresses the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 26, 2024
WTO seeks modest outcome in UAE at 'critical juncture' for global trade
The stated goals is to set new global commerce rules, but even its ambitious chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala sought to curb expectations.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attend an Indo-Pacific Economic Framework launch event in Tokyo in May 2022.
BUSINESS
Feb 24, 2024
U.S.-led Indo-Pacific deal on supply chain resilience takes effect
The deal allows members to help each other secure critical items in times when supply chains are disrupted.
Pedestrians look at an electronic board displaying the Nikkei index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange on a street in the Japanese capital on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 24, 2024
Record-high Nikkei’s rise just getting started on foreign demand
Investors and strategists are also watching for a broadening of equities gains that may take the wider Topix index to an all-time high this year.
A recent surge in Tokyo share prices has been driven by foreign investors' enthusiasm for rising corporate profits, with Japanese investors still wary after more than three decades of market malaise.
BUSINESS
Feb 23, 2024
Japanese investors raise a glass to Nikkei record at Stock Pickers bar
Excitement among regulars at the intimate bar in Tokyo's Ginza district had been brewing since last week as the Nikkei approached its all-time high.
The Nikkei 225 on Thursday broke through a record high set just before the country's asset bubble catastrophically burst in the early 1990s.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 23, 2024
Congratulations Nikkei, now don’t screw it up
Those skeptical of the current boom argue that this is nothing more than a another instance of a once-in-a-decade cycle.
The International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington. The IMF sees downside risks in the Japanese economy, which unexpectedly slipped into a recession at the end of last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 23, 2024
IMF sees downside risks for Japan in 2024
Japan unexpectedly slipped into a recession at the end of last year, losing its title as the world's third-biggest economy to Germany.
Members of the 31st Separate Mechanized Brigade fire at a Russian target in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and China and their allies are pulling apart, World Trade Organization economists say.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Feb 23, 2024
Global trade rift widening as Ukraine war passes two-year mark
There are clear signs that the global economy is fragmenting into two separate blocs, World Trade Organization economists say.
People take photos of electronic screens showing the Nikkei average surging to its highest level ever, outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets / ANALYSIS
Feb 22, 2024
Nikkei tops late '80s peak, but is a bubble forming?
Market watchers say gains experienced by Japanese equities are well backed by earnings this time.
The volume of mergers and acquisitions linked to Japan has grown 43% so far this year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024
Japan sees dealmaking boom as mergers and acquisitions rise 43%
A strong stock market is giving companies more scope for acquisitions at a time when the government and investors are pressuring firms to bolster growth.
Laws governing global e-commerce and the growing tidal wave of data that crosses borders may soon change.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024
Streaming a movie abroad may soon come with taxes at the border
It's still unclear exactly how governments would implement digital tariffs.
As their popularity grow, Shein and Temu together send almost 600,000 packages to the U.S. every day.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 22, 2024
Rise of fast-fashion Shein and Temu roils global air cargo industry
Their pursuit of limited air-cargo space to woo consumers with rapid transit times make off-peak seasons almost disappear and cause capacity shortages.
A Rapidus factory construction site in Chitose, Hokkaido, in December
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 21, 2024
Japan’s chip spree aims to kick economy into high gear
The government’s chip strategy aims to triple domestic chip sales to around ¥15 trillion by 2030.
Japan's exports rose to a record high in January, lifted by robust shipments of cars and chipmaking equipment, marking the second straight month of growth despite concerns about slowing global demand.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 21, 2024
Export growth beats forecasts, adding to momentum for BOJ policy shift
Gains in exports are a positive sign after the economy unexpectedly fell into recession in the last quarter of 2023 due to stagnant domestic spending.

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'