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Japan Slowdown Exceeds Expectations
naked capitalism — ... off the bad news, taking momentum from the Euro/US rally, but upon reflection, have (for the moment) taken a more sober view. This news is far from unexpected, despite the market reaction. Japan is a bifurcated economy, with a flagging domestic sector and heretofore robust exports. Japan in turn outsources a considerable amount of its exports to China, so the results reflect the plunge in China, which in turn is a function of a plunge in international trade. From the Financial Times: Japan’s gross domestic product contracted much more rapidly in ...

Japan slowdown worse than thought
FT Alphaville — Japan’s GDP contracted much more rapidly in the third quarter than initially thought, underscoring the weakness of the world’s second largest economy at a time of international financial turmoil. Revised GDP data released Tuesday showed a quarter-on-quarter fall of 0.5% for the three months to September, compared with a preliminary estimate issued last month of a 0.1% decline. On an annualised basis, the Q3 contraction - which put Japan officially into recession – is now estimated at 1.8%, rather than 0.4% as previously. While the downward revision was worse than many ...

Sony ’shokku’: The sequel
FT Alphaville — ... while “he may be a charmer, Sir Howard hates to lose” and that he most likely wants to “have a victory behind him when he retires”. If that is the case, he may be there quite a while. As for the impact on Japan, which will no doubt bear a fair share of the job cuts and factory closures; In a society which so far seems to have escaped the feeling of panic permeating major financial centres of the world, the second “Sony shokku” will undoubtedly drive home the fact that the country is in recession - if not the notion that the real horror movie is just beginning. ______

Words from the (investment) wise 12.15.08
The Big Picture — ... than worrying new information and so would not dramatically change assessments of the economy’s prospects. “‘The downgrade in headline growth does not look as bad as the headline suggests,’ UBS said in a research note. “However, the news the recession was deeper than thought came as the Cabinet Office said its latest composite index of business conditions showed the economy ‘worsening’.” Source: Mure Dickie, Financial Times, December 9, 2008. Financial Times: China’s export ...