Yen weakness continues to push the Nikkei, which helped the exporters but also the inflation outlook appears more positive. Todays CPI release was came in a smidgen better than the zero forecast at 0.1%, with National at 0.4%. In Shanghai and in the Hang Seng we saw declines ahead of Janet Yellen speech later in […]

I have warned that rates will rise BECAUSE the Federal Reserve will be criticized if they fail to do so when they are faced with a stock market that is rising. However, while one by one, several Fed officials have all signaled in recent days that the Fed is ready to resume raising interest rates […]

The euphoria seen in the states followed on into Asia with the Nikkei returning almost 1% in today’s trading. The mood did not want to change from Wednesday, leading traders to think that many have finally thrown in the towel and are accepting that we are moving higher. The strange thing is the odds move […]

Healthcare costs have continued to outpace inflation and just about everything else within the economy. Generally speaking, prices rise when demand increases relative to supply. The scheme of Obamacare was to force the youth to buy healthcare they did not need to pay for everyone else. The fines have been less than the costs so many […]

The Pension Crisis on the horizon is far worse than anyone can imagine. This is the final straw that will break the back of socialism the same as communism fell. Pensions are in a state of crisis for they lost money in stock in the 2007-2009 crash and then sold the bottom shifting to government […]

A few stories over the weekend from a potential vote for Scotland to a Le Pen victory could create a “worse than Lehman” moment. Asian equity mood and markets reacted to nervous weekend press as they watched the GBP lose 0.5% (before a mid-day bounce) and watched most core indices lose close to -1%. The […]

A fairly quiet start to the week for most of Asia with the Nikkei closing with virtually no movement. The Nikkei was weak just after the opening down just over -0.5% but as the JPY lost ground, the index recovered. Initial price action was poor given the Trade data release (-1.3% given forecasts were 4.7%) […]

The week ended with Asia happy to see consolidation as the name of the game. All core indices closed weaker in Friday’s trading, but it was interesting to see that the Nikkei has lost ground whilst both Shanghai and Hang Seng continue to make ground on the week. The JPY is back flirting with the mid […]

Following from the constructive message the market was hearing from the FED, the Nikkei regained the 1.05% it lost yesterday. This proved to be an impressive performance when considering Toshiba shares dropped 9% amid a potential book write-down of $6.3bn to its US nuclear unit. Hang Seng built on yesterday’s gain adding another +1.2% reaching […]

A little profit-taking in the Nikkei today ahead of the FED semi-annual address was to be expected but todays price fall was probably more than most expected. The Nikkei declined 1.15% in todays trading with more concerns over the alluded slowed down after Finance Minister (and deputy Prime Minister) Taro Aso remarked it may take […]