Zombie apocalypse isn't what you were expecting

^^^^^^
Jan 11

I guess thirty years of stagnation isn't enough for the Japanese.

It's interesting...Japan was rebuilt, from 1945 to 1990, with tight money policies that rewarded savers and investors, and it progressed from a smoking pile, to the world's foremost economic and technological powerhouse. Then, after a correction, the central bank tried easy-money Stimulus...and it led to what used to be called the Lost Decade.

Except it's now over 30 years lost, and still they refuse to admit the failure of Financialization.

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan Board Member Hajime Takata sent a strong signal that the case for ending the negative interest rate policy is gaining momentum, comments that pushed the yen and government bond yields higher.

Japan faces a reckoning with its zombie companies​

MUMBAI, March 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Big Japanese companies are well equipped for the end of the country’s long-standing era of negative interest rates. Yet, when it arrives, the shift in monetary policy will unearth the dark side of Japan Inc lurking beneath the surface: its struggling small businesses.

Japanese stocks are partying like it’s 1989. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index this week topped 40,000 for the first time, surpassing levels previously seen before the country's asset price bubble burst more than 30 years ago, triggering a decades-long effort to reflate the economy.

As in the U.S. the rally is concentrated in a few large companies. SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab is riding the hype surrounding artificial intelligence. Trading houses including Mitsui (8031.T), opens new tab, Sumitomo (8053.T), opens new tab and Mitsubishi (8058.T), opens new tab have rocketed in value after Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), opens new tab backed the companies, spurring what one hedge fund has dubbed the “Warren Buffett bubble”. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Stock Exchange is prodding underperforming companies to boost their valuations.

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Bank of Japan scraps radical policy, makes first rate hike in 17 years​

• BOJ sets new short-term rate target in 0-0.1% range
• BOJ to apply 0.1% interest to reserves to nudge up rates
• Board votes to ditch bond yield control, risky asset buying
• BOJ expects ultra-easy conditions to stay for time being
• BOJ may hike rates if trend inflation heightens further

TOKYO, March 19 (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan (BOJ) ended eight years of negative interest rates and other remnants of its unorthodox policy on Tuesday, making a historic shift away from its focus on reflating growth with decades of massive monetary stimulus.

While the move was Japan's first interest rate hike in 17 years, it still keeps rates stuck around zero as a fragile economic recovery forces the central bank to go slow on further rises in borrowing costs, analysts say.

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The yen is structured toilet paper. It went from 100 to the $USD to 150 in just a few years.

Japan finds a 'stealth' cure for zombie businesses: Let them fail​

KAKAMIGAHARA, Japan, July 16 (Reuters) - For much of its 72 years, Hitoshi Fujita's company was just another mom-and-pop business grinding out metal parts. Then it did something unusual for a small Japanese manufacturer: it expanded, buying two neighboring firms in the last decade.

If more small companies don't follow suit, Fujita says, the country that transformed global manufacturing in the 20th century is looking at a dim future.

Years of faltering growth and population decline left many of Japan's small and medium-sized firms squeaking by on state help and almost-free funding. These companies, which account for around seven out of 10 jobs, now face a shake-up as pandemic-era support dwindles and interest rates rise for the first time in 17 years.

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