Asian shares track technology-led sell-off on Wall Street

Well it could be worse.... you could have invested in crypto...... :)

Not a surprise: The Bank of Japan, in their Summary of Opinions at the April meeting, said it was inappropriate to change monetary policy for the purpose of controlling exchange rates. BoJ left its key short-term interest rate unchanged at -0.1% and that for 10-year bond yields around 0% during its April meeting, by an 8-1

The BOJ left its massive stimulus program intact, reinforcing a commitment to its super-low yield policyby saying it will offer to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year government bonds to defend an implicit 0.25% yield cap around its zero target every market day.

Inflation projection for FY 2022 was revised upward to 1.9% from 1.1% but that for the FY 2023 and 2024 it was projected to ease to 1.1%.

Policymakers cut the FY 2022 GDP growth forecasts to 2.9% from 3.8% made in January and slashed the FY 2021 GDP growth to 2.1% from 2.8%. For the FY 2023, however, the outlook was revised higher to 1.9% from the previous 1.1%.

Nothing wrong with the fundamentals; export competitiveness enhanced by the slumping yen, a huge fillip to an economy rendered moribund by Covid restrictions. A return to pre Covid tourist numbers also won’t hurt. And yet the Nikkei genuflects with stuck record slavish consistency to whatever went down on Wall Street the day before. You’re a big boy now Japan. A foolish consistency is, after all, the hobgoblin of small minds.

I don't think inflation has peaked. There are too many broken supply chains, energy is going to cost more because of the sanctions on Putin and harvest damage will increasingly impact food supplies.

Tourists from overseas will not return considering the scale of inflation and recession fears.

Er, we're not all paupers you know. Westerners who are feeling the pinch would not have taken long haul holidays to Asia anyway. Even those who will notice inflation hitting their cash are still booking short haul holidays. Several of my family and friends are on their second or third post-pandemic holidays.

Tourists won't return to Japan in numbers in the short term (if at all) as Kishida is treating them the way Trump and Johnson treated migrant workers. He's demonising them and bagging the popular votes that brings, at the expense of the economy. Once the collateral damage widens, he'll do what Johnson is doing and blame it all on the Russians or Covid. Ideological nationalists have replaced economic nationalists. The economy will take a beating and anyone in victimised sectors will suffer, but Japan has a bottomless pit of free cash to hand out, and the government will keep doing it as long as they feel it is necessary.

The rest of Asia will see tourists return whenever they open up.

Sorry, 'Tourists from overseas will not return considering the scale of inflation and recession fears' was actually a quote that I was responding to. This software loses carriage returns and other characters when pasting.

Tourists from overseas will not return considering the scale of inflation and recession fears.