The Economist (September 22)
“Mr Abe may be burning to give Japan a more normal foreign policy, but what it needs most is a more normal economy. His signature policy—Abenomics—is far from complete. The fiscal and monetary expansion, his first two “arrows”, were supposed to buy time for the third and most important one: sweeping structural reforms, leading to enduring growth. The economy should take precedence over constitutional reform… Otherwise, Mr Abe will be remembered less for his long tenure than for wasting it.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Arrows, Constitutional reform, Economy, Expansion, Fiscal, Foreign policy, Growth, Japan, Monetary, Structural reforms
Financial Times (April 10)
“Japan’s progress on stewardship and corporate governance reform has looked wobbly of late. The ROE gains made in the first 30 months of Abenomics (up from an average of 5.8 per cent in December 2012 to a mid-2015 peak of 8.8 per cent) have been in steady reversal since then.”
Tags: Abenomics, Corporate governance, Japan, Progress, ROE, Stewardship, Wobbly
Financial Times (March 14)
The Japanese stock market resembles “the ghost ship Mary Celeste.” Strewn around the decks are signs that the ship should be hopping with activity: the Topix index at a 14-month high, identifiable value stocks in abundance, a comfortably-positioned yen, fresh legalisation of casinos in the bag and a run of record share buybacks…. And yet there is silence.” Volumes have been low during the last three weeks and “overseas investors have been net sellers…with up to Y78bn leaving the index.” This suggests little wind remains in the Abenomics sails and, quite possibly, that traders are cautious ahead of developments from the Federal Reserve and Donald Trump. But it could also mean that overseas investors have written “Japan off as a credible, reform-minded play on global growth and domestic reflation.”
Tags: Abenomics, Buybacks, Casinos, Fed, Investors, Japan, Mary Celeste, Reflation, Topix, Trump Growth, Value stocks, Volumes, Yen
Financial Times (January 4)
Whether “Abenomics remains a relevant force…may depend heavily upon the performance of the Nikkei 225 Average over the next six weeks.” If the “huge dip that savaged the benchmark” last year during the same period can be avoided, many analysts believe “we may be looking at a market with enough foreign buying and other support to sustain the current bull run.”
Tags: Abenomics, Analysts, Benchmark, Bull run, Dip, Foreign buying, Market, Nikkei 225, Performance, Relevant force, Support
The Economist (July 30)
When it comes to the three arrows of Abenomics, “the prevailing view is that none has hit home. Headline inflation was negative in the year to May. Japan’s public debt looks as bad as ever. In areas such as labour-market reform, nowhere near enough has been done.”
Tags: Abenomics, Inflation, Japan, Labor market, Public debt, Reform, Three arrows
Bloomberg (October 6)
“The prevailing gloom about Japan is overdone.” Though it hasn’t been perfect, “Abenomics is working…the record to date is good by any country’s standards—and by Japan’s, little short of remarkable.”
Tags: Abenomics, Gloom, Japan, Overdone, Prevailing, Record, Remarkable
Bloomberg (August 13)
“China’s devaluation becomes Japan’s problem.” The surprise action raises the question of “what China’s move means more broadly for Abenomics. A sharply devalued yen, after all, is the core of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s gambit to end Japan’s 25-year funk.” But China’s move is not necessarily the death knell of Abenomics, which has been sputtering. “China’s move may catalyze Abe to act. By undercutting Japan’s devaluation, China might increase Abe’s urgency to boost competiveness, innovation and wages.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, China, Competiveness, Devaluation, Innovation, Japan, Sputtering, Wages, Yen
Bloomberg (July 30)
Positive governance may finally be transforming corporate Japan. “Waves of activist investors—both Japanese and non-Japanese—tried to unlock the country’s riches. They failed. But now they’re spurred on by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who’s taking aim at the cozy way Japan does business as part of his make-or-break Abenomics plan to reinvigorate the stagnant economy. Attitudes are changing at last.”
Tags: Abe, Abenomics, Activist investors, Business, Economy, Governance, Japan
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“The secret weapon of Abenomics” is the rebalancing of Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF). “The GPIF is diversifying at a pace that’s astonishing for a fund of its size…. In the last six months of 2014, while slashing its JGB holdings, the fund increased its exposure to Japanese stocks by ¥5 trillion, to foreign equities by ¥7 trillion and to foreign bonds by ¥4 trillion.”
Tags: Abenomics, Bonds, Diversifying, Equities, GPIF, Japan, JGBs, Rebalancing, Stocks
Wall Street Journal (March 18)
“Major Japanese manufacturers lined up Wednesday to give their employees bigger pay raises starting in April.” This could provide a boost to Abenomics, but “the diverging fortunes of Japan’s big and small firms suggest that Mr. Abe may have more work to make wage growth spread.”
Tags: Abenomics, Employees, Japan, Manufacturers, Pay raises, Small firms, Wage growth
