The cabinet of new Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi endorsed her plan for a $135.4-billion economic stimulus package on Friday. The plan includes about $460 million in tax cuts, with the rest of the cash influx to be spread widely through the economy.
As Benito Mussolini once said, the merger of state and corporate powers is fascism. Welcome to Amerika.
Factory output contracted around the world in September as U.S. economic activity slowed, demand in China weakened, and the ongoing U.S. tariff war made customers hesitate to buy, Reuters reported.
Officials in the Trump administration are considering using $550 billion from Japan to build factory buildings in the U.S. as an incentive for key industries to expand or relocate in America, The Wall Street Journal reported.
After dropping by 1.7 percent in May, Japan’s exports shrank another 0.5 percent in June, year on year.
With a national debt more than twice the size of its economy, Japan is faced with rethinking its decades-long practice of using public money to affect social policy and keep the economy afloat.
The results of Japan’s 20 May ¥1-trillion bond auction was “dismal,” according to the Financial Times, with so few takers that the yield on long-dated bonds climbed to record heights.
Defense contractors in Asia stand to benefit from new contracts from European countries who look to bolster their militaries and turn away from relying on the U.S. to produce their weapons.
The rising value of Japan’s yen currency is sending investors fleeing from an estimated $500 billion in “carry trades” that had been reliably profitable before the Bank of Japan (BoJ) raised its interest rate last week and strengthened the yen.
Europe’s manufacturing activity stumbled in June, with the Hamburg Commerce Bank’s purchasing managers index (PMI) for the region sinking to 45.8 after notching 47.3 in May.