Bonds from the European Union have become popular among Japanese investors. Already in July, Japanese funds bought record amount of Italian debt. However in September, they purchased a net 235 billion yen ($2.15 billion) of Spanish bonds, while selling a net 127.7 billion yen of Italian paper during the month, the data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance showed.
Iberdrola is targeting the Japanese market as a new platform for growth in renewable energy, specifically in the field of offshore wind. It has signed a deal with Macquarie’s Green Investment Group to acquire 100% of the local developer Acacia Renewables, which currently has two offshore wind farms under development, with a combined capacity of up to 1.2 GW. The operation will allow Iberdrola to position itself in the early development stage of Japan’s offshore wind market.
Today’s official resignation of Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe ended weeks of speculation following a number of hospital visits over the past month (…) The two front runners for Prime Minister are probably Shigeru Ishiba (photo) and Fumio Kishida. While neither would be likely be politically revolutionary, Ishiba has been more critical of Abe in the past and was recently quoted saying: “We need to rethink everything about Japan… Stocks are not the whole economy. We need to change the system where all wealth accumulates with stockholders and people who manage companies.” Given his more populist stance it is unsurprising that he is popular, regularly topping public polls for the preferred next PM. Kishida by contrast has been moulded and promoted by Abe himself, and never will the cliché above be more true than if he is chosen to take over from his political mentor.
(European Views) | The EU and Japan last week signed an infrastructure agreement aimed at linking Europe and Asia in a barely veiled bid to counter China’s controversial Belt and Road Initiative.
Craig Willy via Fair Observer | It will be a busy few years for Japan, which hosts the G20 summit on June 28-29 followed by the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The international attention sparks questions concerning how durable its economic success will be.
The G20 finance and economy ministers will meet in Fukuoka (Japan) this weekend against the backdrop of trade restrictions. The World Trade Organization estimates that between October and May, 20 new restrictions on world trade have been introduced, worth 335.9 mm. $. These measures are linked to others that previously affected a volume of trade worth 480.9 mm. $, and most worrying is that more restrictions are expected. This compensates, Intermoney analysts argue, the liberalizing measures by value of 397.2 mm. € that were taken in the last months.
José Ramón Díez Guijarro (Bankia Estudios) | Fortunately, in the EMU, with the exception of the second half of 2014, when the expected inflation expectations traded by the five year German bond reached negative territory, this deflation risk seems much more contained. This could be the principal difference between the European and Japanese economies.
Benjamin Cole | Fed Chair Jerome Powell has stated the Fed’s 2% target is symmetric, which may be code words for “inflation a little above 2% is tolerable.” The US central bank may find fighting inflation resembles heart surgery with a chainsaw.
In the middle of all the trade battles of the US against the rest of the world, the European Union has considered a new strategy of collaboration with other regions and have signed with Japan its largest trade agreement ever. The deal will create an open trade zone covering over 600 million people.
“The JPY’s refusal to heed the BOJ’s quest for higher inflation — a consequence of its role as a funding vehicle in the carry trade—has served up a firm reminder of the immense challenges still facing Shinzo Abe’s Japan,” says BNY Mellon senior currency strategist Neil Mellor.