Well, so much for any Barron’s bounce following their bullish piece on Japan over the weekend. For starters, the Nikkei fell apart late Monday in the morning session and never had a chance in the afternoon. To make matters worse, U.S. futures were in the red from early on Monday and selling gained momentum intra-day. To credit Barron’s, which consistently seems to be bullish on Japan late in the year, Japanese stocks are indeed oversold (TOPIX 25-DMA A/D 64%) and if anything, due for a technical rebound. However, there’s nothing readily apparent to sustain the gains. Furthermore, their bullish reporting on small caps is misleading, but that is best left to another post or private consultation.

N225 futures in Chicago ended Monday at 14,780 — reaching 14,740 intra-day — representing about a 1.7% difference from the actual benchmark’s close in Tokyo.

The most widely traded Japan ETF, iShares MSCI Japan Index (EWJ) was last down 2.1% to $13.18 (as of 6pm extended trading).

Closed-end funds Japan SmallerCap (JOF) and Japan Equity (JEQ) faired much better, with the former actually gaining 2.5% to $9.79 and the latter losing 0.5% to $7.38. Credit JOF’s gains to Barron’s and perhaps to the fund’s actual holdings.

Remember the fact that many country CEFs trade at a discount and JOF is no exception at about 10%. JEQ trades at a similar discount.