Over and over, financial news airwaves are filled with noise about since the Bank of Japan–under the supervision of Governor Kuroda–has embarked on a massive dose of Quantitative Easing, there has been no real outflow of YEN around the world. The only problem with this bloviating is that its devoid of fact. The BOJ’s action, or rather, call to action has led to a drop in European bond yields as well as a new pillar of support for U.S. Treasuries. Further proof is last night’s employment data from Australia, which was much weaker than expected (a 36,000 job loss and a 0.2% jump in the unemployment rate to 5.6%), but the AUSSIE DOLLAR rallied after an initial selloff as Japanese investors are seeking higher returns. A favorite place for higher yields for Japanese seekers has been Australia and New Zealand. Many financial institutions offer what are known as Urudashi and Samurai bonds. These are bonds issued in Japan in foreign currency of usually kiwi and Aussie. Those who say that the Japanese don’t invest afar and remain in Japan–what is called HOME BIAS–are badly misinformed.
Posts Tagged ‘Toyota’
Notes From Underground: OPEN LETTER TO FINANCE MINISTER AZUMI–IT IS THE EURO/YEN AZUMI-SAN
October 31, 2011Last Monday in NOTES, the possibility of YEN intervention was discussed following the news of VW overtaking Toyota in the race for gaining market share. It was not GM, Chrysler or Ford that overtook Toyota but VW, a EURO based auto producer. Sunday evening, the BOJ, under the direction of Finance Minister Jun Azumi, moved to intervene in the FX to attempt to stem the continued strength of the YEN. The initial round of intervention has worked as the YEN futures on the IMM dropped 300 points on a one minute bar and never recovered. In its most recent interventions, the effort by the Ministry of Finance failed as Japanese investors continued to repatriate money as the global financial situation remained so uncertain.