The United States and Japan are set to announce a deal to grant Japanese steelmakers relief from Trump-era U.S. tariffs for a limited amount of steel imports, Reuters reported. Anonymous sources said that it will allow about 1.25 million metric tonnes into the United States duty-free, with volumes above that level subject to the 25% "Section 232" national security tariffs.

Japan's biggest lenders on Wednesday all sounded alarm about the risk the Omicron variant could have on their earnings, reviving concerns that a resurgent pandemic could trigger more bad loans, Reuters reported. It was a sobering assessment from Japan's three top banks - some of the world's biggest lenders by assets - and underscored how the latest coronavirus variant could put more downward pressure on an already fragile domestic economy. Top lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Japan's factory output shrank for the first time in three months in December as a decline in machinery production outweighed a small rise in autos, casting a cloud over the strength of the economic recovery, Reuters reported. Retail sales posted their third straight month of year-on-year gains in December as low coronavirus cases encouraged shoppers. Record infections this month driven by the Omicron variant, however, are expected to have hit consumer sentiment.

Japan last year had the fewest bankruptcies in a half century, Bloomberg News reported. But economists warn there may be a darker side. Zero-interest loans and subsidies may have also helped prop up firms that were already non-performing before the crisis and probably should have been left to go under. While policy makers everywhere have trouble providing just the right amount of aid during a crisis, Japan has a long history of easy credit that’s been blamed for keeping “zombie” firms alive.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday recent price rises in the country were driven largely by rising energy and global commodity costs, Reuters reported. "It's desirable to create an environment in which companies can pass on rising costs, raise wages, so that increasing consumption spurs economic growth and inflation," Kishida told parliament. Read more.

Japan’s retail sales increased for a third straight month, as easing virus concerns fueled spending by consumers before the emergence of the omicron variant, Bloomberg News reported. Sales advanced 1.2% in November from the previous month, as shoppers spent more on clothing and motor vehicles, the industry ministry reported Monday. Economists had expected a 1.3% overall gain.

Japan is offering oil from its national reserves as other nations kick off a coordinated release from strategic stockpiles to rein in prices, Bloomberg News reported. A government tender offered Oman crude from the strategic reserves in Shibushi for delivery between March and June, the trade ministry said in a statement dated Dec. 27. The tender didn’t specify a volume, give a reason for the sale, or confirm it was part of a U.S.-led initiative.

Over the last two years, Masataka Yoshimura has poured money into the custom-suit business his family founded more than a century ago. He has upgraded his factory, installed automated inventory management systems and retrained workers who have been replaced by software and robots. Japan’s prime minister, however, wants him to do one more thing: Give his employees a substantial raise, the New York Times reported. The reasoning is simple. Wage growth has been stagnant for decades in Japan, the wealth gap is widening and the quickest fix is nudging people like Mr.

The Bank of Japan is set to keep monetary policy ultra-loose on Friday but may dial back emergency pandemic-funding, less than 48 hours after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled an imminent end to stimulus as policymakers respond to soaring global inflation, Reuters reported. The BOJ's anticipated decision, underpinned by cautious optimism that the economic damage wrought by coronavirus crisis is gradually healing, will put it in line with major central banks' moves to phase out crisis-mode policies, Reuters reported.