Jobs Data: Data and Masahiro Ichikawa

jobs data: Favorable U.S. manufacturing and private-sector jobs data helped lift the dollar against the yen, while stronger than expected Japanese industrial output and corporate investment data raised confidence in the plodding recovery of the world's third-largest economy, according to The Japan Times. The Nikkei was unable to reach 20,000 due to a series of sluggish U.S. economic data, but the latest data provided relief to investors over prospects for the economy, said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. The benchmark average hit the threshold for the first time in 18 months on Friday as a stream of upbeat economic data from both countries sparked buying by overseas investors, who had stayed away from the market following reports over Trump's alleged links to Russia. Also contributing to the rise in stocks is underlying optimism about Japan's corporate profits, given their healthy earnings for the business year ended in March and positive prospects for this year, brokers said. According to a survey by Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management, combined pretax profits at 221 major Japanese nonfinancial companies are projected to surge 16.4 percent compared with the previous fiscal year. As many firms have set their dollar-yen exchange rate assumptions at around the 110 level, their earnings for this fiscal year would not be so negative, considering the current level around 111, Ichikawa said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.