financializer news A weblog highlighting financial topics making news in the international media.

peace treaty: Japan hopes the joint activities, once started, will pave the way for addressing a decades-long territorial dispute with Russia that has prevented the two from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II. The vice ministerial meeting will precede talks planned between Abe and Putin in September on the sidelines of an economic forum in Vladivostok, the official said, according to The Japan Times. The leaders also agreed to cooperate in arranging special grave visits by former residents of the islands by chartered plane in September. Abe and Putin agreed to hold a vice foreign ministerial meeting in late August in Moscow as part of an effort to craft specific projects for such activities, a senior Japanese official told reporters after the two leaders spoke on the fringes of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. The visits were originally scheduled for June, but were called off at the last moment on two days due to bad weather. Putin said he is glad the two sides are having such active dialogue, which he said he hopes will make it possible for us to resolve decades-old problems, according to Russia's Tass news agency. At the meeting, part of which was open to the media, Abe said, We would like to further develop a relationship of trust between the two countries by promoting joint economic activities, as well as the grave visits and visits to former residents' hometowns in a freer way. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

blake griffin: The Nuggets receive a 2019 second-round pick from Atlanta, according to The Japan Times. Gallinari joins a Clippers team that recently traded Chris Paul to Houston, but agreed to a five-year deal with Blake Griffin. In the swap, Los Angeles sent Jamal Crawford, Diamond Stone, cash considerations and a protected 2018 first-round pick to the Hawks. Los Angeles also has DeAndre Jordan in the frontcourt. He wound up in Denver as part of the blockbuster deal in February 2011 that sent Carmelo Anthony to the Knicks. The 28-year-old Gallinari was selected by New York with the sixth overall pick in 2008. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

european: On Thursday, the price gauge fell 87.57 points to finish below 20,000, according to The Japan Times. The Topix, including all first-section issues, ended down 8.47 points, or 0.52 percent, at 1,607.06, after losing 3.10 points the previous day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average lost 64.97 points, or 0.32 percent, to close at 19,929.09. The Tokyo market opened sharply lower with the key Nikkei average losing more than 135 points, in the wake of drops in U.S. and European shares prompted by rises in long-term interest rates. The yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds also rose. European and U.S. interest rates went up after the release of the minutes of the European Central Bank's policy-setting meeting last month, which showed that ECB policymakers discussed tapering of the bank's bond-purchasing program, brokers said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

hiroshi miyazaki: The latest reading of the nation's output gap, released Wednesday, is another milestone on the journey to that escape, economists say, according to The Japan Times. The positive output gap shows Japan is making progress toward becoming a normal economy, said Hiroshi Miyazaki, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley in Tokyo. More than four years after the Bank of Japan launched its radical monetary easing, key conditions are aligning in its long battle to truly escape from deflation. We are now in a similar situation as before the Lehman shock in 2008, when Japan enjoyed a prolonged recovery thanks to a global economic expansion. That means demand now clearly exceeds supply in an economy undergoing its longest expansion since before the crisis. The BOJ's output gap, a measure of the balance between supply and demand in the whole economy, rose for a third straight quarter in the first three months of this year, reaching the highest since 2008, the central bank said Wednesday. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

office seizure: In a Facebook post, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said there was a second stage to that attack, timed to hit its peak at 4 p.m. in Ukraine on Tuesday, according to The Japan Times. Avakov said the second strike like the first one originated from servers at the Ukrainian tax software company M.E. Doc, which sheds a little more light on Tuesday's heavily armed raid on M.E. Doc's office and the seizure of its servers. Ukraine is still trying to find its feet after scores or even hundreds of businesses and government agencies were hit by an explosion of data-scrambling software on June 27. Video released Wednesday showed men in camouflage carrying assault-style weapons storming the company's modest offices in Kiev as office workers calmly watched them. We prevented the initiation of the second wave of viruses, Yaroslav Trakalo, another police spokesman, said in the video released Wednesday. Police spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko said there were no arrests. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

pakistan-controlled kashmir: Three years into his five-year term, it is more accurate to describe Modi's record as maximum talk and boast, minimum action and results, according to The Japan Times. Last Sept. 29, Modi ordered surgical strikes across the line of control into Pakistan-controlled Kashmir by the Indian Army and boasted that several infiltration launch pads had been destroyed. Yet in the World Bank's 2017 report on the ease of doing business, India ranked a dismal 130 out of 190 countries in the world. Similar raids had been conducted by previous governments without the fanfare of publicity. Modi and other ministers have continued to strut their cojones in ordering the strikes. Any criticism of the publicity, which elevated the escalation risk, was held to be an anti-national attack on the army. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

tracker alias: But the man who used the Tracker alias, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, can be questioned and is increasingly expected to be as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman expands his sweeping probe into whether Tillerson's former employer, Exxon Mobil, misled investors about the impact of climate change, according to The Japan Times. Schneiderman's office considers the nation's chief diplomat a central figure in a case that pits the ambitious Democrat against a Texas energy giant and has divided attorneys general nationwide. He does not exist. Republican state prosecutors from South Carolina to Utah, like Exxon's high-profile legal team, accuse the New York attorney general of abusing the power of his office to score political points with his liberal base on a politically explosive issue. We haven't gotten to the point where that's necessary, but yeah, we have the legal right to conduct depositions. It remains unclear whether Schneiderman will ultimately force Tillerson to answer questions under oath, but he told The Associated Press he has the legal authority to question the secretary of state, who served as Exxon's CEO until joining President Donald Trump's administration. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

trade incentives: On Wednesday, the key market gauge rose 49.28 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix index of all first-section issues closed down 3.10 points, or 0.19 percent, at 1,615.53, after gaining 8.93 points the previous day. The 225-issue average shed 87.57 points, or 0.44 percent, to end at 19,994.06, its first closing below the threshold since June 16. Getting off to a weak start amid a lack of major trade incentives, the market remained under selling pressure for the rest of the day. A pause in the yen's weakening against the dollar also discouraged investors from purchasing shares, they said. Major issues that had been robust recently, such as automakers and semiconductor-linked names, met with selling to lock in profits, contributing to the overall market's weakness, brokers said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

midmorning trading: On Tuesday, the key market gauge fell 23.45 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix, including all first-section issues, finished 8.93 points, or 0.55 percent, higher at 1,618.63, after falling 4.71 points the previous day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average rose 49.28 points, or 0.25 percent, to end at 20,081.63. Selling outpaced buying from the outset of the day's trading amid a dearth of fresh buying incentives, and the market took a dive in midmorning trading to push the Nikkei average sufficiently below the 20,000 line. The dollar's fall below 113 also damped risk appetite among players. Investor sentiment deteriorated after a South Korean official reportedly said Pyongyang would likely conduct a nuclear test, among other provocations, according to brokers. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

european markets: On Monday, the key market gauge rose 22.37 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix, which covers all first-section issues, finished down 4.71 points, or 0.29 percent, at 1,609.70 after climbing 2.51 points Monday. The Nikkei 225 average fell 23.45 points, or 0.12 percent, to close at 20,032.35. Stocks spurted at the outset, attracting buying from investors who took heart from the dollar's rise above 113 and overnight rallies in the U.S. and European markets, brokers said. Investor sentiment was dampened by North Korea's ballistic missile launch and a pause in the yen's depreciation, brokers added. But the market came under selling pressure after the initial buying ran its course without new buying factors, and continued losing ground on selling to lock in profits while many foreign players were quiet before Independence Day in the United States. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

hearing approaches: The U.S. hearing is scheduled to take place July 14, where a decision could be handed down, according to The Japan Times. Cash-strapped Toshiba is rushing to sell the unit, Toshiba Memory Corp., to raise funds to eliminate its negative net worth and avoid being delisted from the Tokyo stock market. Western Digital Corp., Toshiba's chip production partner, opposes the sale and is seeking a preliminary injunction against it in a California court. Toshiba has chosen as its preferred bidder a consortium consisting of the Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and the Development Bank of Japan both backed by the government as well as U.S. fund Bain Capital and South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. But as the date of the hearing approaches, involved parties now want to await the result, the sources said. The consortium had been willing to sign a deal as soon as it was drawn up, with a clause saying the sale would be renegotiated if Western Digital's injunction were to be granted. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

equity: First, the effective corporate tax including central and local government taxes was lowered gradually from around 35 percent in fiscal 2012 to about 30 percent in fiscal 2016, according to The Japan Times. Second, the basic portfolio of public pension reserve assets 145 trillion managed by the Government Pension Investment Fund GPIF was reformed in 2014 by increasing investment in domestic equity and foreign equity. To realize this vision, the government took various measures in recent years under the Abenomics program launched in December 2012 after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power. Third, the Nippon Individual Savings Account NISA and Junior NISA were adopted in 2014 and 2016 respectively to foster individual equity investors age 20 or older and under 20 with the provision of tax-free treatment on dividends and capital gains up to certain amount of investment per year. The move was inspired by the September 2013 decision by the International Olympic Committee to select Tokyo to host the 2020 Olympic Games since it was seen as a rare opportunity for Tokyo to take advantage of the global attention that will focus on it over this period. Since 2014, moreover, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has also taken its own initiatives to achieve the above-mentioned vision. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

afternoon trading: On Friday, the key market gauge retreated 186.87 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix, including all first-section issues, finished up 2.51 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,614.41, after losing 12.17 points the previous trading day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average gained 22.37 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 20,055.80. Stocks got off to a firmer start as investors took heart from the yen's weakening against the dollar following the release in the United States on Friday of brisk economic indicators for the country, brokers said. But its upside grew heavy later amid a lack of fresh buying incentives, they said. After meeting with some selling toward the morning close, the market gathered steam in early afternoon trading. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

gender equality: The indexes are the FTSE Blossom Japan Index, the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index and the MSCI Japan Empowering Women Index, according to The Japan Times. They cover about 360 firms that have cleared requirements on environmental friendliness, gender equality in the workplace and transparent governance practices. Through the move, the Government Pension Investment Fund aims to prompt Japanese companies to improve their value in those criteria, and encourage foreign investors to buy into Japan's equity market, thereby ensuring long-term returns on its investments, officials said Monday. The 1 trillion investment amounts to about 3 percent of the 30 trillion allocated to domestic stocks in the GPIF's portfolio. The GPIF, the world's largest pension fund, aims to expand ESG investment by adopting other indexes or active investment in the future, President Norihiro Takahashi said in a statement. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

bank governor: The new note is equal to around 4 at current exchange rates, according to The Japan Times. The currency has plunged in value since the conflict began in 2011, from 47 pounds to the dollar in 2010 to around 500 pounds to the dollar at present. Central bank governor, Duraid Durgham, said the 2,000-pound note was one of several new notes printed years ago but the decision to put it into circulation was delayed due to the circumstances of the war and exchange rate fluctuations. Citing wear and tear of the existing notes, Durgham said the time was right to put the new note into circulation, the state news agency SANA reported. Assad's father, the late President Hafez al-Assad, who died in 2000, appeared on coins and on an older version of the 1,000 pound note, which is still in circulation. Previously, the highest denomination of Syrian banknote was 1,000 pounds. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

akira amari: The TPP was originally envisioned as a rules-based economic area spanning the Pacific and comprising 12 member countries Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam which collectively account for about 40 percent of the world economy, according to The Japan Times. The negotiations, which lasted five years, were undertaken with great care and diligence. But such assumptions may have been premature. In Japan's case, for example, the negotiators, headed by Akira Amari, then the minister of state for economic and fiscal policy, worked day and night to assuage opposition by various sectors of the domestic economy say, rice growers and to secure favorable outcomes. But many relevant players, eager to prevent the TPP from crumbling, soon began to discuss moving forward without the U.S. By May, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was declaring that, though he still hoped for America's return to the TPP, Japan was willing to take the lead in bringing the deal to fruition. Trump's announcement in January, which came just as the deal was set to be ratified, certainly shook the endeavor at its core. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

cash store: Crime syndicates are increasingly smuggling it, stealing it or robbing it from other smugglers who don't have ties to gangs, according to The Japan Times. A gold smuggler isn't likely to report any theft to the authorities and therefore makes the perfect victim. The origins of gold are difficult to trace, and the material is easy to convert into cash and store. Over the past three years, thieves have conducted a Reservoir Dogs -style gold heist dressed as police officers hijacked a Mercedes believed to have been loaded with gold and robbed gold dealers in broad daylight. And yet crime syndicates have been interested in gold for some time. According to the Finance Ministry, customs reported 294 cases of gold smuggling between July 2015 and June 2016. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

news conference: The isles, Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group, are held by Moscow but claimed by Tokyo, according to The Japan Times. The five-day survey included visits to 64 sites on three of the four islands, including a seafood processing plant and geothermal power plant. I am seeing big potential for future development, said tour leader Eiichi Hasegawa, a special adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at a news conference on Saturday upon returning to Nemuro, Hokkaido. Based on the tour, Japan is expected to draw up a priority list of collaboration ideas after examining their financial feasibility. Tokyo hopes the activities will pave the way for settling the decades-old territorial row, while Russia is said to be seeking investment from Japan. Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a hot-spring summit in December to begin joint activities on the isles. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

board: The Bank of Japan views with regret the fact that the remarks of one of its board members have become a source of misunderstanding, and will see to it that such incident will not repeat itself, the central bank said on Friday, according to The Japan Times. Harada, a member of the bank's nine-member Policy Board, told the seminar that Western policymakers helped bring Hitler to power by being slow to apply John Maynard Keynes' proposals to fight the Great Depression. Yutaka Harada, a member of the central bank's Policy Board, told a seminar on Thursday that Hitler's economic policies had been appropriate and wonderful but had enabled the Nazi dictator to do horrible things to the world. Hitler became German chancellor in 1933. I had no intention at all to justify Hitler's economic policies, the bank quoted Harada as saying. Harada said he had only been trying to express the importance of adopting appropriate economic policies at an early stage. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

interdisciplinary team: An interdisciplinary team of climatologists and economists based its findings on economic models and 116 projections of the impact of climate change, according to The Japan Times. The study comes just weeks after President Donald Trump announced that the United States will withdraw from the Paris accord aimed at combating climate change. The poorest one-third of U.S. counties could see income drops of as great as 20 percent if current trends continue, according to the worst-case projection of the study, published in the journal Science. His move drew intense international criticism, but Trump insisted Thursday he is proud of having pulled out from the agreement, saying the move will save U.S. jobs and protect American sovereignty. Southern states and those in the lower Midwest that already tend to be hot and relatively poor have the most to lose if economic activity migrates to the North and West, the study said. The new study, however, predicts large-scale economic losses and potentially the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in American history, according to Solomon Hsiang, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, the study's principal author. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

once-booming economy: But consumer spending remains tepid, and the Bank of Japan has struggled to lift inflation despite years of aggressive monetary easing, according to The Japan Times. After stripping out the volatile cost of fresh food, inflation in May came in at 0.4 percent, the fifth consecutive monthly rise, according to the internal affairs ministry. The country's prospects have been improving on the back of strong exports, with investments linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics also giving the economy a shot in the arm. However, the inflation figures fall well short of the BOJ's 2.0 percent target seen as crucial to conquering the long struggle to slay deflation that is blamed for holding back the once-booming economy. The rise in prices was driven more by higher energy costs rather than a broad-based rise backed by stronger consumer spending. Separate data Friday showed household spending edged down 0.1 percent in May from a year ago, extending more than a year of declines. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

profit-taking pressure: On Thursday, the key market gauge gained 89.89 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix, including all first-section issues, finished down 12.17 points, or 0.75 percent, at 1,611.90, after climbing 9.70 points the previous day. The benchmark Nikkei 225 average sank 186.87 points, or 0.92 percent, to close at 20,033.44. Tokyo stocks met with heavy selling to lock in profits following their recent advance and a plunge on Thursday in U.S. equities, also hit by profit-taking, brokers said. The Tokyo market came under profit-taking pressure triggered by overnight falls in U.S. and European stocks, after attracting purchases recently despite the lack of outstanding buying incentives, said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co.'s Economic Research Department. Additionally, the dollar's fall below 112 battered investor sentiment, pushing down the Nikkei average below the 20,000 line for most of Friday's session, brokers said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

market gauge: On Wednesday, the key market gauge retreated 94.68 points, according to The Japan Times. The Topix index of all first-section issues finished up 9.70 points, or 0.60 percent, at 1,624.07, to log its highest finish since Aug. 19, 2015, after losing 4.65 points the previous day. The 225-issue Nikkei average climbed 89.89 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 20,220.30. Investors took heart from Wednesday's rebound in the U.S. stock market, where financial issues gained ground on the back of higher long-term interest rates. A drop in the yen against the dollar also helped lift Tokyo stocks, brokers said. Japanese mega-bank groups and other financial issues followed suit, pushing up the overall Tokyo market, brokers said. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

percent: A total of 696 or 29.6 percent of firms whose business years ended in March hosted the meetings on Thursday, down from 32.2 percent from last year, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to The Japan Times. The peak occurred in 1995 when 96.2 percent of all listed firms held the meetings at a time when companies would deliberately stack them to lessen the risk of corporate racketeers showing up to disrupt the proceedings. Companies are also facing higher pressure to better communicate with shareholders because asset management firms have started scrutinizing proposals and voting more closely to protect their investors' interests. The government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange have pushed for improved corporate governance, including promoting dialogue between companies and investors, to attract foreign investors to the nation's equity markets. An investor with Fujifilm Holdings Corp., where improper accounting practices at subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand recently came to light, said he hoped the company could rebound and prop up the share price. Amid such calls, companies are increasingly facing pressure to do away with for-show meetings, where submitted proposals are approved without serious debate. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

policy steps: Hitler had taken wonderful fiscal and monetary stimulus steps, which in turn led to something horrible for the world as his strengthened grip on power led to the Holocaust and massive human casualties during World War II, Harada said in a seminar on monetary policy in Tokyo, according to The Japan Times. Hitler became German chancellor in 1933. Yutaka Harada, a member of the board of Japan's central bank, said Western policymakers helped bring Hitler to power by being slow to apply John Maynard Keynes' proposals to fight the Great Depression. Because Hitler had taken appropriate fiscal and monetary policy steps, tragedy resulted. Fiscal policy involves setting government spending and tax rates, whereas monetary policy involves money supply and interest rates set by a central bank. What I'm saying is that someone should have taken appropriate fiscal and monetary policy steps before Hitler did, said Harada, an academic-turned BOJ policymaker. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.

ri jong: The cash is likely to have been used for Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development, according to The Japan Times. The laborers are strictly supervised and do not get the pay. Office 39 takes away the salaries of North Korean workers and earns up to 100 million in cash annually, 59-year-old Ri Jong Ho, a former senior official of the secretive office, said in a recent interview in the U.S. capital. Senior officials of the North Korean authority there say that the workers are like slaves, exploited by South Korean companies, Ri said. It is subject to international sanctions as the United States and other Western countries believe it is engaged in illicit economic activities and the management of slush funds for the leadership. Ri has long been involved in the operation of Office 39, which is said to have been established by the late leader Kim Jong Il in May 1974. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.