Salient to Investors: Japan is to scrap atomic power by the end of the 2030s but will allow idled reactors to restart during the 27-year wind-down period. Before Fukushima, Japan got almost 30 percent of its electricity from atomic power. Richard Katz at the Oriental Economist Report said the plan is a desperate election gambit
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said 49 percent of Americans polled said economic conditions were good or excellent in the city they lived in, 37 percent said the same about their state, 25 percent about the US, 18 percent about Europe, 13 percent about the world economy. Housing is finally is recovering and will have big ramifications for
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Takuji Aida at UBS warned that a higher sales tax could bring the Japanese economy to a grinding halt in 2014 when the first increase will take effect. He raised his growth forecast for the year ending March 2014 to 2.9 percent from 2.2 percent on a $50.4 billion rise in consumption
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Isao Kubo at Nissay Asset Management said all the data yesterday points to a slowdown, and we can’t expect immediate stimulus measures. Kubo said Japanese stocks are resilient because of the yen, the biggest barometer for Japan’s corporate outlook. The Topix sells for 0.88 times book value. Tomoichiro Kubota at Matsui Securities said employment and housing
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Foreign ownership of Japanese government debt rose to a record in 2011, signaling increasing dependence on investors abroad to finance the world’s largest public debt. The crisis in Europe has increased demand for the yen and Japanese bonds as a haven. Japanese household wealth funds has stagnated over
READ MORE... →IMF estimates Japanese public debt will balloon to 245.6 percent of GDP in 2014, up from 67.3 percent in 1984. Former adviser to George Soros, Takeshi Fujimaki recommends buying assets in U.S. dollars, Swiss francs, sterling, Australian and Canadian dollars, because Japan may default within five years, before Europe does. Fujimaki says the yen
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