Fighting against Bank of Japan may not be crazy after all
Going against a central bank is an investment strategy fraught with peril, but some bond market analysts think the Bank of Japan will fail to steepen the yield curve.
Gone in 146 seconds: Japan's investors race to buy SoftBank bonds
Monex Group Inc.'s online brokerage sold out ¥500 million ($4.6 million) of SoftBank Group Corp. bonds to individual Japanese investors in less than three minutes earlier this week, a sign of strong demand for the conglomerate's debt despite skepticism about some of the company's ...
Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad to visit Kyoto with samurai bonds on the agenda
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is set to make a three-day visit to Kyoto beginning Friday, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Bernama news agency separately said the visit will include talks Sunday with Japan Bank for International Cooperation Gov. Tadashi Maeda on ...
Agency prices Japan bond with negative yield for first time as rates plunge
An agency priced a Japanese bond with a negative yield for the first time, in a sign that such debt sales may increase in the nation amid a global tumble in interest rates. Japan Student Services Organization, or JASSO, priced ¥30 billion ($281 million) two-year ...
Japan regains status as top foreign holder of U.S. Treasurys
Japan surpassed China in June as the top holder of U.S. Treasurys after raising its holdings to a nearly three-year high, as the trade war between the world's two largest economies intensified. Holdings of U.S. bonds, bills and notes were increased by $21.9 billion to ...
Trump slams Fed chief as inverted yield curve signals global distress
The U.S. government bond market sounded alarms Wednesday as investors fleeing riskier assets drove the 30-year bond's yield to a record low and the 10-year yield fell below the rate on the two-year for the first time since 2007. The 10-year Treasury yield dipped as ...
Japan holds its own debate on Modern Monetary Theory
The hottest economic doctrine around says governments should stop worrying and learn to love their public debt. Japan has been more relaxed than most — but a looming tax hike suggests it may be about to blink. Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT, posits that countries ...
Japan government bonds have a cute sales mascot, but there's only one buyer that matters
In the land that gave us Hello Kitty, it's no surprise the government employs an endearing mascot to sell its bonds. His name is Kokusai-sensei. A pint-size rendition of him welcomes visitors to the investor relations office at the Finance Ministry. Pudgy and professorial, ...
Growth fears and Chinese equity plunge haunt global stocks
Deepening fears for the health of the global economy pushed world stocks to three-week lows on Friday after China exports contracted by a fifth, sending shares in some of the country's key indexes more than 4 percent lower. The February data out of Beijing came ...
Mizuho's surprise $6.1 billion charge exemplifies risks for Japan banks seeking returns abroad
Mizuho Financial Group Inc. announced another round of losses Wednesday on its foreign-bond holdings as part of a surprise writedown that will severely curtail full-year profit, as Japanese banks' quest to secure yield by investing overseas continues to create turbulence. Mizuho slashed its net income ...
Bank of Japan's hoard of assets now bigger than the economy
The Bank of Japan's massive asset purchase program has taken it into uncharted territory, with its ballooning holdings now larger than the country's annual economic output. Its holding reached a staggering ¥553.6 trillion ($4.9 trillion), figures released Tuesday show, compared with nominal gross domestic product ...
