Active Investing in Japan

What to watch: Earnings reporting continues; JGB activity (unprecedented サーキットブレーカー (circuit breaker) action last Friday; rising yields but equity yields still attractive to the 10-year); Tues./Wed., April 29 -30: FOMC rate decision meeting; Wed., April 30: Bank of Japan (BoJ) monetary policy meeting; March – Industrial production; March – New housing starts; March – Unemployment and Ratio of Job Offers to Applicants; March – Household income and expenditure survey; U.S. Q1 GDP; Thurs., May 1: April – New auto sales; Fri., May 2: U.S. April – Unemployment and U.S. nonfarm payrolls

Ongoing: External factors, particularly U.S. earnings and economic data (see above) to influence domestic stocks; record commodities vs. weakening yen [¥104.5/$1 on Friday] continue reading…

What to watch: Key earnings reports begin Wednesday 4/23; Friday 4/25: CPI for March (April for select metropolitan areas)

Ongoing: External factors will inevitably weigh on domestic stocks (bullishness in the U.S. helped pull the Nikkei up to a multi-week high by week’s end). continue reading…

What to watch: Japanese earnings forecast (downward) revisions; U.S. earnings releases; Tuesday; 4/15 Mansion (condo) sales for March; Wednesday 4/16 U.S. CPI for March

Ongoing: External factors; Investors are apprehensive of bad news; General Electric (GE: 17.04 0.00%) delivered worse than expected earnings early Friday, sparking a broad market selloff in the U.S. Shares of GE dropped nearly 13% or the whopping equivalent of about $47 billion in market capitalization! The direction of the yen will continue to be watched closely with the same knee-jerk reactions (weak yen = good; strong yen = bad) to be expected. continue reading…

What to watch: Monday, 4/7: Cabinet Office’s Diffusion Index of Economic Indicators; Tuesday, 4/8: Cabinet Office’s “Economy Watchers” Survey; Tues-Weds. Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting; Thursday, 4/10: Cabinet Office’s Machinery Orders for February; Friday, 4/11: Bank of Japan — Producer Price Index (PPI); Fri-Sat. G7 meeting of Finance Ministers continue reading…