As the rest of the world fought to keep inflation in check, one country welcomed it with open arms. In the past few years, Japan saw a burst of inflation, spurred by pandemic supply chain snags and geopolitical shocks, as a way to shake the economy out of a decades-long cycle of weak growth and pressure from deflation. So while major central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates to rein in prices, the Bank of Japan kept rates low as inflation accelerated, the New York Times reported.
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Mt. Gox creditors are receiving a portion of the roughly $8 billion worth of cryptocurrency they’ve been owed since a hack drove the Tokyo-based exchange into bankruptcy a decade ago, Bloomberg News reported. Kraken has distributed Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash from the Mt. Gox estate, according to a post on the X social media platform from the San Francisco-based exchange’s chief executive. A Kraken spokesperson confirmed the distribution and declined to comment on the specific amount.
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Nearly 90% of Japanese households expect prices to rise a year from now, a quarterly central bank survey showed on Friday, a sign of heightening inflation expectations that could help make the case for a near-term interest rate hike, Reuters reported. A separate survey showed momentum for wage hikes was broadening among small- and medium-sized firms in regional areas, signalling that Japan was making progress toward durably achieving its 2% inflation target - a prerequisite for raising interest rates.
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Japan's corporate bankruptcies for the first half of this year hit the highest level in a decade, data from a research firm showed on Friday, as high prices, labor shortages and reduction of COVID-era relief complicated firms' management, the Japan Times reported. There were 4,887 bankruptcies between January and June, up 22% from the same period a year ago, according to corporate credit research firm Teikoku Databank.
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Japan expects corporate bond issuers to start adding investor protection as it pushes the use of covenants, opening the way for lower-rated companies to enter the debt market, Bloomberg News reported. A working group led by the Japan Securities Dealers Association finished a series of monthly meetings in June that discussed details of applying covenants to local corporate notes with lower ratings. The group agreed on applying Change of Control clauses and reporting covenants on bonds of BBB+ and lower, while keeping conditions flexible, according to an official at JSDA.
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Since time immemorial, the world of technology has continued to evolve, throwing up exciting innovations, ideas, and happenings that keep the tech scene buzzing, and one cryptocurrency that does not cease to amaze everyone is Bitcoin, The National Somaliland reported. Recently, Bitcoin saw a whopping 10,000% price spike. Consequently, creditors of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange, Mt. Gox, are reaping enormous windfalls from their claims in the Bitcoin bankruptcy estate. For those not familiar with the Mt. Gox saga, it was formerly the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange.
Many business owners in Japan are struggling to find enough workers to stay afloat, NHK World reported. The number declaring bankruptcy as a result was at a record high in the first half of this year. Private research firm Teikoku Databank says Japan's labor shortage drove 182 companies to the wall between January and June. The number was up by 72 from a year earlier. It's the highest figure since the firm started keeping track. Fifty-three of the businesses were in the construction industry, and 27 were in logistics.
A severe labor shortage and rising prices are weighing heavily on Japan's nursing care providers, with 81 nursing homes going bankrupt over the past six months, a Tokyo-based research center has said, the Japan Times reported. This is the highest number recorded for the first half of the year since the nursing care insurance system started in 2000. It also marked a 50% increase from the same period of last year, Tokyo Shoko Research said. Previously, the highest number of bankruptcies recorded was 58 in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new study has revealed that almost two-thirds of football clubs in the top two divisions of Japan's Professional Football League, also known as the J-League, could be at risk of bankruptcy, Phys.org reported. The work is published in the Journal of Applied Accounting Research. The research, conducted by sports finance and economics experts from the University of Portsmouth and Sheffield Hallam University, found widespread financial issues across both the J1 and J2 leagues, with approximately 50 to 75% of the clubs at risk.
Japan's finance minister said on Tuesday authorities were vigilant to sharp currency market moves, as the yen continued its slump to fresh 38-year lows against the dollar, but stopped short of giving a clear intervention warning, Reuters reported. The change in official daily commentary to reporters, in which an intervention warning has become almost customary, comes as analysts question the effectiveness of such jawboning in stopping sharp yen declines.