The Bank of Japan on Wednesday raised its benchmark interest rate and cited concerns about the historically weak yen, leading to a jump in the Japanese currency, Bloomberg News reported. The decision was the latest sign of a rethink among central banks about the effects of higher interest rates on economic growth. Gov. Kazuo Ueda embraced a view spreading among Japanese officials that a rate increase, normally seen as constricting the economy, could instead help growth by pushing up the yen and reassuring consumers who have had to pay more for imported goods.
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Japanese companies established Thailand’s auto industry virtually from scratch, dating back to the years after World War II. By the late 1970s, Japanese brands commanded around 90 percent of car sales in Thailand. They invested in building Thai supply chains, and their cars were also widely perceived by customers as reliable, the New York Times reported. In the 1990s, American and South Korean automakers targeted the Thai market but barely made a dent in Japan’s share.
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Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will have investors on high alert Wednesday when he lays out a detailed plan for quantitative tightening after years of massive easing. He may also double down by adding an interest rate hike to boot, Bloomberg News reported. While only about 30% of BOJ watchers predict a hike as their base-case scenarios, almost nobody is ruling out the possibility, according to a Bloomberg survey. The high degree of uncertainty has propelled the yen and Japanese stocks on a roller coaster ride that’s likely to continue until the decision and beyond.
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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.