January 4, 2023 | Daily JAM |
Late in December, the Bank of Japan announced, unexpectedly, that it was adjusting its policy for buying bonds. Even something as vague as that is enough to rattle financial markets because Japan is the world’s largest creditor. At the end of 2021, it held roughly $3.2 trillion in foreign assets, 30? more than No. 2 Germany. As of October, it owned over a trillion dollars of U.S. government debt, more than China. Japanese banks are the world’s largest cross-border lenders, with nearly $4.8 trillion in claims in other countries. The policy change was relatively minor–a decision to raise the ceiling on yields for the 10-year bond. But global bond markets have been waiting for any signs that say the days of 0% (or lower) bond yields in Japan might be coming to an end.
October 31, 2022 | Daily JAM |
It’s certainly a novel take on fighting inflation. On Thursday, the government of Japan announced $197 billion in new stimulus spending. And the Bank of Japan said it has no plans for an early increase in interest rates. The overnight interest rate at the Bank of Japan is at negative 0.1% and the bn k continues to keep the yield on the 10-year bond at 0%. This isn’t the traditional way to fight inflation, which in September ran at 3% in Japan.
October 16, 2022 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
The dollar broke back STRONG on Friday with, for example, the Invesco DB U.S.Dollar Index Bullish Fund ETF (UUP) gaining 0.69% on the day after dropping 0.66% during the Thursday, October 13, stock rally. Looking at the overnight markets in Asia on Sunday, October 16, it looks like U.S. traders and investors can expect more dollar strength to begin this week. And this is starting to become a big enough problem that it’s adding volatility to the financial markets in general.
July 17, 2022 | Daily JAM, Friday Trick or Trend |
The dollar is likely to get another boost from the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank this week. On Thursday, the European Central Bank is likely to report its first interest-rate increase in more than a decade. But the increase is likely to be just 25 basis points. That will be a stark reminder of how far behind the Federal Reserve, which raised interest rates 75 basis points in June and is expected to increase rates by another 75 basis points at its July 27 meeting. On Thursday the Bank of Japan is expected to keep its benchmark interest rates at its current low, low, low level.
June 25, 2020 | Daily JAM, Stock Alerts |
A while back I sold the Invesco Currency Shares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY) out of my Perfect Five ETF Portfolio because I was looking for more diversification in that limited five ETF portfolio. (I replaced it with the iShares Large Cap China ETF (FXI) on April 20, 2020....
March 16, 2020 | Daily JAM, Perfect Five-ETFs |
The Japanese yen soared 2% Monday after the Federal Reserve announced that it would cut interest rates and add $700 billion to its balance sheet by buying Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The dollar is down 0.66% today against the DXY Spot Index, a basket of...
March 11, 2020 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term, Volatility, You Might Have Missed |
As of 1:45 p.m. in New York the Standard & Poor's 500 is down 4.62% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 5.13%. The NASDAQ Composite is lower by 4.40% and the Russell 2000 small cap index, with its heavy load of smaller U.S. oil producers, has lost 5.23%....
February 4, 2019 | Daily JAM, Mid Term, Morning Briefing |
A number of Wall Street and big international banks are forecasting a drop in the dollar as a result of the Fed's decision to back off on raising interest rates in 2019. Morgan Stanley, for example, says that the dollar has peaked and has forecast the yen climbing to...
January 3, 2019 | Daily JAM, FXY, Perfect Five-ETFs, Stock Alerts |
On December 27 I switched to the  Invesco Currency Shares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY) from the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA) in my Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio in an effort to get more yen exposure and a little more safety during this Bear market. Tomorrow I'm going...
January 2, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
It's not just China anymore. Unfortunately. The Caixin Media and IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index for China's manufacturing sector fell to 49.7 in December  from 50.2, its lowest reading since May 2017. That confirms a trend seen in the official government PMI on...
December 27, 2018 | Daily JAM, FXY, Perfect Five-ETFs, VEA, Volatility |
Back on October 3 I switched from the  Invesco Currency Shares Japanese Yen ETF (FXY) to the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA) in an effort to get a little more performance out of this slot in my Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio. (This ETF invest in both Japan and...
October 3, 2018 | Daily JAM, Perfect Five-ETFs, VEA |
Earlier today I sold the Invesco Currency Japanese Yen ETF (FXY) in my Perfect 5 ETF Portfolio. Now I'm replacing it with the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA). The sell and the buy will cut the portfolio's exposure to the Japanese yen and increase its...
