Japan Aug Household Spending Slips Amid 5th Wave of Pandemic, Bad Weather

By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Japan’s household spending plunged in August as people were cautious about shopping or traveling amid the fifth wave of pandemic that was causing hospital bed shortages in major cities, data released Friday by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed. Heavy rains from mid-August caused damage and disrupted traffic […]

ANALYSIS UPDATE: Japan PM Kishida Inherits Thorny Economic, Social Change Targets

By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Japan’s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is facing the same tough economic and social challenges that his predecessors tackled or created, leaving him no choice but to draw up longer-term plans to embark on a fundamental change. The soft-spoken former foreign minister, who leads the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, has […]

BOJ Sept Key Tankan Business Sentiment Up But Outlook Uncertain

— Higher Energy, Commodities Markets Support Some Producers— Automakers Report Worse Sentiment As Supply Constrains Linger— Face-To-Face Service Providers Suffer Amid Covid-19 Spike— BOJ Survey Also Shows Companies Revise Up FY21 Capex Plans By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Higher energy and commodities prices this year further boosted confidence among many manufacturers, big and small, while […]

MaceNewsViews – Commentary: Nihilism’s Dream – The US Defaults

By Denny Gulino WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – Those knowing think pieces and Op-Eds by veteran graybeards, scoffing at the super-hyped headlines about the dangers of a pending debt-limit impasse, should be reassuring. They’ve seen it all before, the six dozen or more times Congress allows the nation’s Treasury to start borrowing again, often at the last […]

FOMC Policy Statement: Tapering ‘May Soon be Warranted’

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday put off any declarations on when it might begin the tapering process other than saying “it may soon be warranted.” Inflation? It’s still largely transitory.. The text of the statement follows: The Federal Reserve is committed to using its full range of tools to support the […]

Commentary: Ignoring the US Housing Timebomb

WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – The latest trove of housing data Wednesday collected by the National Association of Realtors provided more definition to America’s bifurcated housing market, one in which the haves get what they want, expensive houses that are available for sharply escalating prices, and the have nots, the younger generations buying their first home, who […]