You read the title correctly. In fact, household spending increased 2x the amount analysts expected, +1.3% in Feb. And, industrial production declined less-than-expected. The unemployment rate held steady at 4%, for the fourth consecutive month. Unfortunately, we aren’t seeing the wage growth that is necessary for consumer spending to really take off and pick up slack for any slowing of exports as the U.S. appears to be down-shifting and Beijing continues its rhetoric of trying to prevent over-investment. Still, the data is positive. Something to pay attention to here, aside from the obvious (that being Monday’s BoJ tankan) is oil prices, which are creeping up. Lower prices were cited for price weakness, but renewed strength in consumption. What will higher prices bring? [See Bloomberg's coverage for more details.]
Browsing Posts published in March, 2007
Another mostly uneventful day. Thank the laggard bank stocks and other non-bank financial stocks that were bought ahead of the new fiscal starting on Monday, for supporting the benchmark indices today. The Nikkei 225 gained 23.71 points (0.14%) to 17,287.65, or still about 1,000 points off its late Feb. multi-year high — just before the global stock sell-off began.
Nothing too exciting here, except it looked like it was going to get really ugly before the start of the afternoon session. Basically, there’s not much action, since we have just one more day before the end of Q4 and the fiscal year. The yen was not really a factor either. The Nikkei gained 9.21 points, up fractionally, to 17,263.94. The broader TOPIX actually dipped below 1,700 intra-day (to 1,687.83) for the first time in seven trading days, but recovered and closed down fractionally, -0.38 to 1,710.68. Decliners outnumbered advancers 872 x 717 (133 unchanged).
The hundred-plus point loss today for the Nikkei 225 is not as bad as it looks, especially considering the expected profit-taking from (1) stocks going ex-dividend yesterday, (2) the fourth-quarter and fiscal year-end that’s coming this Friday, and (3) recent strength in equities [a five-day rally that had started (in a holiday-shortened) last week]. Decliners outnumbered advancers 967 x 604.
A couple days ago we looked at Lexus — in short, it plans to target the “prestige luxury” segment where some car buyers have a fleet of cars and assets in excess of $5m — prompted by an article in the WSJ. Since then, reports out of the U.S. show further housing weakness, how subprime home mortgage troubles could be spreading to auto loans and we see that consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level since November. This does not bode well for automakers.
Japanese stocks faced selling pressure following a five day rally and due to stocks going ex-dividend today, all resulting in profit-taking. The Nikkei 225 lost 0.9% to 17,365.05. TOPIX fell 1% to 1,723.86. Decliners outnumbered advancers 1,419 x 233 (58 unchanged). Note we are also rapidly approaching the end of the current fiscal year.
It was hardly a bullish day, but given the light volume, in fact the lightest trading this year, we think it was a positive session overall. Today was the last chance to buy stocks paying a year-end dividend (ex-dividend from tomorrow).
The Wall Street Journal has a nice Page One piece on Lexus, about how it is respected for its quality, but not a top choice, or even a choice at all, among America’s wealthy — some who have a fleet of cars. It looks like this will change however, as Toyota is readying to break into the “prestige luxury” segment. And how about the stock of parent-Toyota?
