Japan

Japan’s credit rating could be in the cross hairs after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated the nation may abandon its goal of covering key expenditures through taxes, Bloomberg News reported. The cost of insuring Japan’s government debt against default rose to a 15-month high on Tuesday, with policy uncertainty adding to concerns about tensions with North Korea. On Monday, Abe said he would dissolve parliament later this week and he’d pay for economic measures with funds from a consumption-tax increase originally intended to rein in the nation’s swollen debt.

Leading central banks now own a fifth of their governments’ total debt, a sign of the scale of the challenge they will face in unwinding unprecedented stimulus measures deployed over the past decade, the Financial Times reported. Since the financial crisis emerged, the world’s biggest central banks have carried out large-scale purchases of bonds and other securities in a bid to boost the global economy by driving down borrowing costs for households and businesses.

Japanese auto supplier Takata Corp filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection on Wednesday in an effort to pause lawsuits against the company over faulty air bag inflators - more than a month after its U.S. unit filed for bankruptcy in the same court, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. In its filing with the U.S.

A number of creditors and others involved in Toshiba Corp.’s restructuring are pushing for a Toshiba bankruptcy filing as the best path to rebirth after its effort to raise money through a chip-unit sale stalled, The Wall Street Journal reported. People involved in talks over Toshiba’s workout, including business partners, lawyers and people with ties to the company’s main bankers, said bankruptcy is worth serious study. Some of them said it is the best available option and that they are advocating it in discussions with Toshiba or creditors.

Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp expressed condolences on Tuesday to victims of its faulty air bags linked to at least 16 deaths and 180 injuries around the world, but stopped short of offering a full apology, Reuters reported. "We offer our condolences to the those who lost their lives and to those who suffered injuries," Shigehisa Takada, chairman and CEO of Takata, said at the company's last annual shareholder meeting as a listed company.

Embattled airbag maker Takata Corp on Monday filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan and said it would seek $1.588 billion in financial aid from U.S.-based auto parts supplier Key Safety Systems (KSS), Reuters reported. The KSS deal would help it deal with the fallout from its defective airbag inflators at the centre of the global auto industry's biggest ever recall, the two companies said in a joint statement. The filing at the Tokyo District Court followed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in the United States.

Takata Corp will seek bankruptcy protection from creditors on Monday, two sources said, as the Japanese company faces billions of dollars in liabilities stemming from the biggest recall in automotive history, Reuters reported. The firm, whose defective air-bag inflators have been blamed for at least 16 deaths and more than 150 injuries worldwide, will file for protection in Tokyo District Court under the Civil Rehabilitation Act, Japan's version of U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy, said the sources, one of whom has direct knowledge of the matter and one who was briefed on the process.

Takata Corp. fell by its daily limit after the embattled airbag maker was said to be planning to file for bankruptcy, paving the way for a sale of the 84-year-old Japanese company behind the biggest safety recall in automotive history, Bloomberg News reported. Shares of Takata declined 17 percent, the most since April 27, at the end of trading Monday in Tokyo after going untraded through the regular session as orders to sell outnumbered buyers. The stock has plunged 53 percent this year. The supplier is expected to seek protection in its home country first, with its U.S.

Takata Corp, the Japanese company facing billions in liabilities stemming from its defective air bag inflators, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as next week as it works toward a deal for financial backing from U.S. auto parts maker Key Safety Systems Inc, sources said on Thursday. Takata, one of the world's biggest automotive suppliers, has been working for months to complete a deal with Key Safety, Reuters reported. A person briefed on the matter told Reuters Key was expected to acquire Takata assets as part of a restructuring in bankruptcy.

Toshiba, whose U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse has filed for bankruptcy protection, is reporting a 950 billion yen ($8.4 billion) net loss for the fiscal year ended March, Bloomberg News reported on an Associated Press story. The Japanese electronics giant's results have failed to win auditors' approval from the previous quarter, after questions were raised over the acquisition of U.S. nuclear construction company CB&I Stone and Webster. Tokyo-based Toshiba Corp.