Japan

World Shares, US Futures Advance Ahead of U.S. GDP Report

World shares advanced Thursday ahead of the release of U.S. economic growth data and following a speech by President Joe Biden outlining ambitious plans for beefing up early education and other family oriented policies, the Associated Press reported. London’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.7% to 7,013.40. In Paris, the CAC40 climbed 0.6% to 6,344.17. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.2% to 15,262.39 as a report showed weakening consumer confidence. The future for the Dow industrials rose 0.4% and that for the S&P 500 surged 0.6%. U.S.

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Toyota’s Acquisition of Lyft’s Self-Driving Unit Bolsters Its Automation Ambitions

Toyota Motor Corp. will acquire Lyft Inc.’s self-driving technology unit for $550 million, as the Japanese firm steps up its automation ambitions with the newly created Woven Planet division, Reuters reported. The acquisition of Level 5 automation will also provide Toyota access to the U.S. ride-hailing firm's more than 300 employees of the essentially complete autonomy technology. For Lyft, the deal will allow it to become profitable sooner and takes away the burden and risk of developing a costly technology that has yet to enter the mainstream.

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BOJ Warns of Risks to Japan Banks from Archegos-Type Overseas Funds

Since the global financial crisis in 2018, Japan’s financial sector has become increasingly linked to global market moves as foreign investment funds pile into the country and domestic banks invest more in overseas securities, the BOJ said, Reuters reported. That has increased overlaps in portfolios between domestic and foreign financial institutions, the central bank said in a semi-annual report analysing Japan’s banking system.
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More Than 700 Japanese Eateries Failed in 2020 Amid Pandemic

The number of bankruptcies in Japan’s eatery industry totaled 715 the last fiscal year, the third largest in 20 years, amid the new coronavirus pandemic, a credit research firm said, the Japan Times reported. The dour result for the year ending March 31 reflects 183 failures in the bar and beer hall sector, the highest since fiscal 2000 when comparative data became available, Teikoku Databank said in a recent survey report on firms that went bankrupt with debts of ¥10 million ($91,000) or more.
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Japan's Regulators to Check High-Risk Trades After Archegos

Japanese regulators will heighten scrutiny on high-risk trades by domestic financial institutions in the wake of the Archegos fallout, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday. Top investment bank and brokerage, Nomura Holdings, was one of the highest-profile casualties while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) warned of a loss of around $270 million. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will scrutinise how financial institutions that incurred losses had been managing transaction risks, the Nikkei said.
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New GPIF Board Head Says Fund Isn’t Distorting Japan Stocks

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s largest pension pot, considers the impact of its investments on markets and isn’t distorting the country’s stocks, said Hirohide Yamaguchi, the newly appointed chairman of the fund’s board of governors, Bloomberg News reported. Yamaguchi, a former deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, said also that it was important to look at the fund’s long-term returns, rather than focusing on the short-term. He spoke in Tokyo at his first press conference since taking the role last week.
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Japan's MUFG Flags Possible $300 Million Loss Related to U.S. Client

The brokerage arm of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group on Tuesday flagged potential losses of around $300 million at its European subsidiary related to an unnamed U.S. client, Reuters reported. The potential loss does not have any material impact on the business capability of the securities arm, or its European unit, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Holdings Co Ltd said in a statement. It did not name the U.S. client. However, the revelation comes after global banks, including rival Nomura Holdings, were bracing for the fall-out from the downfall of hedge fund Archegos Capital.
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Biggest Japan Bank Joins Nomura in Bracing for Archegos Loss

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. joined a growing list of global financial firms to take a hit from the forced unwinding of bets by Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management in one of the biggest margin calls of all time, Bloomberg News reported. Japan’s largest bank warned of a potential $300 million loss related to a U.S. client, a hit that’s linked to Archegos. Lenders are just starting to tally the carnage stemming from the liquidation of more than $20 billion of positions linked to Hwang’s New York-based family office, which has roiled stocks from Baidu Inc. to ViacomCBS Inc.
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Tokio Marine Expects No Material Impact in 2021 from Greensill

Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Holdings Inc said on Tuesday it currently expects no material impact on its results for the fiscal year starting next month as a result of its exposure to the fallout of Greensill Capital’s collapse, Reuters reported. Tokio Marine made the forecast in a statement the day after its shares fell 5.6% following a Bloomberg report that the Japanese insurer faced a larger-than-expected exposure to the insolvent British finance firm.
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Restaurant Chain Sues Tokyo Government over COVID Curbs

A Tokyo-based restaurant chain operator on Monday filed a damages suit against the Tokyo metropolitan government for ordering business hours be reduced as a public safety measure during the coronavirus pandemic, Nikkei Asia reported. Global-Dining claims the order "is illegal and unconstitutional as it infringes the right to freedom of business" in the first such lawsuit anywhere in Japan. The company runs dozens of restaurants including the Gonpachi "izakaya" Japanese-style pubs.

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