Salient to Investors: Japan and India, Asia’s biggest energy consumers after China, are closer to unlocking natural gas deposits trapped in ice below the seabed that may prove bigger than the world’s known fossil-fuel reserves. Shale is found in only certain parts of the globe, carbon frozen with water – methane hydrates –
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Adam Posen said given the jump in Japanese stocks and slide in the yen in anticipation of greater stimulus, any failure to move in April risks disappointing investors. Masaaki Kanno at JPMorgan Chase said the party has just started, and predicts the BOJ’s open-ended bond purchases will be
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Unconventional policies have worked out better in the US than in Japan. Abe’s revitalization plan rests on two tired ideas – massive public-works projects and more monetary stimulus. Absent are steps to improve Japan’s economy, including tax reform, deregulation, joining free-trade agreements, empowering women, supporting
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: An erosion of traditional Confucian values in Japan means fewer elderly are being cared for at home by relatives. Japan has the world’s highest proportion of retirees, and the lack of long-term care facilities means seniors increasingly risk living alone in ill-equipped homes or suffering abuse in the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman said G-20 basically said Japan can continue to reflate their economy, so it will continue to pursue aggressive fiscal easing and monetary easing, and just not talk about the currency so much. S&P retained its negative outlook on Japan’s credit rating, pending policy
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Previous yen declines in the 1990s and early 2000s failed to pull Japan clear of 15 years of deflation. The IMF estimates that from From 1994 to 2003, Japan’s economy grew an average of 0.9 percent, a third of the pace of all advanced nations, and despite back-to-back
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Meghan O’Sullivan at Harvard writes: Many analysts anticipate North American energy independence by 2020, while our rising energy fortunes strongly counter the now-common global narrative that the US is in decline. Europe, China, Japan and other large economies face futures of ever-growing dependence on imported energy. montaukplayhouse.org/www/ The
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Banco de Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens said: A perfect storm may be forming as risk appetite has returned and the search for yield is in full force: concerns of asset-price bubbles fed by credit booms are starting to appear. Japan is actively pursuing a depreciating real exchange
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Japan’s QE move will further devalue the yen in the long-term, and invite competitive devaluations. Experts are disappointed that Japan’s QE will not begin until 2014. Gustavo Reis at Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the BoJ’s plan sounds more aggressive than it actually will be because many
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bruce Kasman at JPMorgan Chase believes next year’s replacement of BOJ officers will be one of the most important monetary policy events for 2013, akin to the appointment of Paul Volcker. Kasman says we have not yet seen an aggressive and committed effort to end deflation. JPMorgan expects Japan to increase growth to 0.4 percent in 2013 on
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