SCJ: iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index ETF Market Currents Page 6

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

All
| Earnings
| Dividends
| M&A
| On the move

Sunday, August 12, 2012, 9:56 PM Japan's GDP grew 1.4% annualized in Q2, sharply below Q1's 5.5% and well short of the 2.3% forecast. The strong yen - cruising near an all-time high vs. the greenback for much of the last year (and hitting record highs vs. the euro) - gets plenty of ink, but demographic math is surely working against speedy growth. The Nikkei is flat. 4 Comments [Global & FX]
Tuesday, August 7, 2012, 12:06 PM Japan already sells more adult than infant diapers, and government estimates show more than 25% of citizens will be over 65 within 2 years, nearly one-in-three within 10 years. The investment implications - from what will drive GDP growth to who will buy the massive amount of government debt - are troubling. Comment! [Global & FX]
Thursday, July 12, 2012, 7:20 AM More signs of disinterest in Japanese stocks - Goldman Sachs (GS) has scaled down its prime brokerage business there, according to sources, moving a chunk of the operation to Hong Kong. In May, Goldman shuttered its Japanese stock loan desk, also moving those operations to Hong Kong. The bank is Japan's biggest prime broker. Comment! [Global & FX]
Monday, July 2, 2012, 8:11 AM Not participating in the worldwide rally overnight was Japan, the Nikkei closing flat after opening sharply higher. Possibly hurting is the defection of heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa from the ruling DPJ party, along with 49 others (possibly over the doubling of the sales tax). The move leaves PM Noda's government teetering. Comment! [Global & FX]
Sunday, July 1, 2012, 8:01 PM Japan's quarterly Tankan survey of large manufacturing comes in at -1 vs. an expected -4, and against the first quarter's -3. The yen ticks up on the upside surprise, now ¥79.84 to the dollar. 1 Comment [Global & FX, Breaking News]
Thursday, June 21, 2012, 1:56 AM Tokyo continues its recent advances as a weaker yen supports its exporters, but other regional markets are trading down following China's weak manufacturing data and limited action from the Fed. Japan +1%. Hong Kong -0.8%. China -1.4%. India -0.2%. USD +0.25% to ¥79.66. Comment! [Global & FX, On the Move]
Friday, June 8, 2012, 2:43 AM Japan's GDP grew an annualized +4.7% in Q1, a notable increase from the preliminary estimate of +4.1% growth. Private demand was revised upward as the domestic economy responded to certain government incentives and post-earthquake reconstruction. Domestic demand will likely remain on a recovery trajectory this year.
5 Comments [Global & FX]
Tuesday, June 5, 2012, 8:48 AM Japan finmin Azumi is the first to hit the wires following the G-7 conference call, and he's talking about how the strong yen is hurting his country's economy. He says the group agreed to work together to cooperate on extreme fx moves. The yen promptly takes a tumble, dollar/yen rising to ¥78.46 from ¥78.25. Comment! [Global & FX]
Monday, June 4, 2012, 3:18 AM Asian markets get walloped, with weak China data compounding Friday's U.S. sell-off. Hong Kong -2.3% to 18130. China -2.7% to 2309. India -0.8% to 15835. In Tokyo, the Nikkei -1.7% to 8296, while the broader Topix fell as much as 2.2% earlier, hitting lows not seen since at least 1985. 2 Comments [Global & FX, On the Move, Top Stories]
Wednesday, May 23, 2012, 2:50 AM Asian stocks are heavily down, and Japan is the big loser of the bunch, sinking 2% on BOJ inaction, a widening trade deficit and the never-ending eurozone drama. Hong Kong -1.3%. China -0.6%. India -0.9%. Comment! [Global & FX, On the Move]
Thursday, May 17, 2012, 2:37 AM Japan's Q1 GDP expanded at a faster-than-expected annualized pace of 4.1%, outstripping consensus of 3.5%. Compared to the previous quarter, GDP rose 1%. The growth was driven by a strong rebound in exports but also by post-earthquake reconstruction activity, which means the growth - high compared to developed peers - is likely unsustainable. Comment! [Global & FX, Top Stories]
Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 8:11 AM Here's a cute one: The BOJ asset purchase program stumbled last night when the bank failed to meet its goal of purchasing ¥600B in 1 and 2-year paper as just €480.5B was offered up to be sold. "There is nothing to invest in when (banks) sell short-term notes," says an analyst. Two-year Japanese paper yields 0.11% ... "nothing to invest in." 1 Comment [Global & FX]
Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 3:01 AM Japan's economic growth probably peaked in Q1, according to a survey of economists, with the country's pace of expansion likely to halve by the end of the year as the lift from earthquake reconstruction fades. Comment! [Global & FX]
Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 11:08 AM The government adds the word "promptly" to previous efforts to goad the BOJ into achieving an inflation rate with a plus sign in front of it, according to the latest policy meeting minutes. At least at that meeting (April 9-10), the BOJ resisted the pressure, leaving policy on hold. The yen has strengthened since, the dollar buying ¥79.77 today vs. nearly ¥82 then. Comment! [Global & FX]
Tuesday, May 8, 2012, 7:26 AM The BOJ stepped in to try and prop up the stock market last night, purchasing about $500M of stock ETFs, and another $28M in real estate ETFs. Tokyo +0.7%. Comment! [Global & FX]
Tuesday, May 1, 2012, 10:10 PM "Why did 10-year Treasurys yield 14% under the vice-like grip of iron-man Volcker, but yield just 1.8% under ... Weimar-like Bernanke," asks Hugh Hendry, defining his weapons in the global macro business as irony and paradox. Hendry's latest investor letter describes China's epic, credit-fueled binge, and why the crisis that started in the U.S. and moved to Europe, is about to end in Asia - and how he's playing it by buying CDS on Japanese corporations. 6 Comments [Global & FX]

SCJ iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index ETF

SCJ

iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index ETF