From The Times: Japan pledges to end economic spiral (ht Jonathan) Japan’s four-month-old Government ... today vowed to enlarge the economy by 150 trillion yen (£1 trillion) ... The Democratic Party of Japan said that the scheme would deliver annual real GDP growth of at least 2 per cent ... Read more

Japan is off and running or so they say (for the nth time in 20 years). Yet inquiring minds will be quick to note Japan Deflation Concern Rises Even as Growth Quickens . The acceleration of Japan’s economy to the fastest growth pace in more than two years masked a slide in prices of goods and s ... Read more

G10 Advancers and Decliners vs USD EUR 0.59 CHF 0.58 GBP 0.44 JPY 0.09 The USD begins another week on the back foot as momentum from Friday’s post-U.Mich sell-off continues and Asian equities have started the session off with strong gains. The buoyant sentiment across Asian ... Read t ... Read more

Japan has gone through two lost decades, in and out of deflation, with nothing to show for it but increasing debt to GDP and a stock market still 70% below its peak. Now, Richard Koo of Nomura Research Institute Ltd. says U.S. Risks Japan-Like ‘Lost Decade’ on Stimulus Exit .U.S. officials c ... Read more

While GDP measurements vary a bit from country to country, Japan is probably the world's second largest economy. Based on the decade plus economic stagnation in the nation in the 1980s and 1990s, it appears that Japan may be more susceptible to deep and long downturns. Or, it may be that, w ... Read more

From Bloomberg: Japan’s Recession Deepens as Output Falls, Consumers Spend Less Japan’s recession deepened last month as companies cut production, consumers spent less and fewer people looked for work. Factory output fell 3.1 percent from September .... Household spending slid 3.8 percent ... Read more