Tag - economy

 
 

ECONOMY

Japan's factory output in January fell at the fastest pace since May 2020 due to a drop in automobile-related production.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 29, 2024
Japan factory output falls at the fastest pace in nearly four years
A production downturn in motor vehicles is also adding to concerns about the fragility of an economy that slipped into recession late last year.
A firefighter walks on mud and rocks from a mudslide during a storm in Los Angeles on Feb. 5.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Feb 29, 2024
U.S. and Philippines pay highest economic price for climate-fueled weather
The U.S. currently experiences the worst losses in absolute terms: about $97 billion annually.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the international community is currently experiencing "gridlock" and suffering "colossal global dysfunction.”
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 28, 2024
No one wins in a lose-lose world
Fragmentation of the world economy could derail growth, especially in low-income countries, turning zero-sum thinking into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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.
Nissan is planning an autonomous vehicle ride-share service for Japan with a 2027 launch date to address a lack of taxi drivers due to the nation’s aging population.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 28, 2024
Nissan plans 2027 driverless ride-share service for aging Japan
Nissan will trial the service in Yokohama's Minato Mirai area, with 20 vehicles equipped with a safety monitor in each driver’s seat.
There is a global trend toward economic bifurcation with the U.S. and China leading the charge — and multinational solutions are needed to address the new challenges.
COMMENTARY
Feb 28, 2024
The inexorable movement toward a divided global economy
Efforts to protect national economies from threats require multinational solutions. Chains are only as strong as their weakest link.
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%.
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.
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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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.

Longform

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