In an acknowledgement of the glaringly obvious, Fitch downgraded Japan’s credit rating by a notch on Monday, citing Japan’s ballooning pubic debt. My only question is this: What took them so long? Fitch now rates Japanese debt as an A, which is five full notches below the top AAA rating…and just a few notches short...Read More

It’s official: Japanese stocks are in correction. After closing at a recent high of 16,291 on Dec. 30, the Nikkei was down by about 14% through yesterday’s close. The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), the most popular Japan ETF, is down a more modest 9%, due in part to currency effects (the yen tends to...Read More

“Tokyo 2020 Olympics could be shot in the arm for struggling Japan.” —NBC News “The successful 2020 Olympic bid signals new hope for Japan.” —Time Magazine So, that’s all it took.  Twenty years of economic stagnation and all Japan needed to get back on its feet was that the summer Olympics be hosted in its...Read More

The votes have been counted.  Japan’s Liberal Democrats—the party of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe—won a landslide victory over the weekend, securing control of both houses of parliament. The implications here are huge.  Abe is as close as you can get in modern Japan to a militant nationalist, and the win will only encourage him to...Read More

Two weeks ago, I asked if the short yen / long Japanese stocks trade was over.   It appears that, indeed, it is. The Nikkei crashed by over 6% on Thursday, pushing it well into bear market territory.  It’s now down by more than a quarter from its recent highs. And the yen?  It has rallied...Read More