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Japan's Nikkei closes at all-time high, breaking bubble era record

42 Comments
By ELAINE KURTENBACH

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42 Comments
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Great!

6 ( +14 / -8 )

I personally thought the yen would have to be a lot weaker than it is (weak though it is) for this to happen, so well done to all of you who kept the faith.

(I’m not going to be buying myself though, quite happy with my global equities.)

6 ( +14 / -8 )

From what I can see, trickle down economics means that the rich piss on everyone else.

The Abenomics recipe is to devalue the yen, making everyone poorer, but the weaker yen does boost the value of export oriented stocks so owners get some compensation.

Overall I think it’s a silly recipe.

Look at the US market. All time highs, and the US dollar is also strong. The US does have an ongoing problem with inflation too, but at least their currency hasn’t been chopped in half versus other major currencies.

A proper supply side revolution here in Japan would lead to both a higher stock market and a higher valued currency, while keeping inflation low (low like it was before…)

6 ( +16 / -10 )

Excellent news! The Nikkei has risen a staggering 42 percent in the past year!

Hopefully this means many, many millions of people will be very well off in their retirement - depending on the investments they have of course. Confidence in Japan and Japanese corporations right now is sky-high.

I'm calling it now - the Nikkei to test 45,000 points by year end.

5 ( +27 / -22 )

cheap yen will continue given the Bank of Japan's easing policies, which in turn will prompt a rise in prices and salaries

Prices are rising. Salaries are not. Simple.

Even recruiters are saying best I can hope for by job hopping is 10~15 percent, and that's a far stretch. While the JPY lost 40% value and prices increased 20~30%.

Corporations keep low balling even now.

As lots of poeple pointed out, the rich are getting richer.

5 ( +16 / -11 )

What a difference in atmosphere compared to the late 80s stock boom! Back then, not only were stocks flying through the roof, but people were getting richer, felt much more secure and were spending, spending, spending.

Today almost everyone has tightened their spending, struggle to make ends meet and have seen their purchasing power degnerate considerably. Very little security when 40% of the population work part-time or on insecure contracts.

That feeling of eurphoria and optimism of the 80s is definitely absent this time around.

5 ( +16 / -11 )

Fighto..

I'm calling it now - the Nikkei to test 45,000 points by year end.

Especially if the yen stays around the 150 to the dollar level.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

The Abenomics recipe is to devalue the yen, making everyone poorer, but the weaker yen does boost the value of export oriented stocks so owners get some compensation.

I think the only way the currency can get stronger is if interest rates rise and if the tax/spend balance improves, but due to the massive debt it may be impossible.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

fxgaiToday  03:38 pm JST

(I’m not going to be buying myself though, quite happy with my global equities.)

It’s not their (our?) fault.

You are quite the humble guy, arent you haha? good luck

4 ( +4 / -0 )

You are quite the humble guy, arent you haha? good luck

Anyone can get themselves some global equities.

All you need at minimum is a bank who wants your business, and about 1,000 yen to invest.

And yeah, it irks me when people complain about the “rich”, because we are all in this together, and most people define “rich” as people having twice as much wealth as they do. By this definition, many many ordinary people are also “rich” and being unfairly slandered

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Presumably interest rates will come down in the West as inflation falls, those currencies will stop being as strong relative to the yen, and the resulting drop in Japanese exporters' competitiveness will stop the Nikkei's rise or even send it back down.

The yen will not be undervalued for ever.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Wall Street, the Nikkei, and the FTSE 100 aren't the real economy. The real economy is what people have in their pockets and banks. And the governments ask us to invest in the stock market. Forcing us to invest in the stock market, while at the same time paying for pensioners of today. So in 45+ years, the only people who will get a state pension will be those who were so poor/disabled they couldn't invest, or the people who invested lost everything. The bottom line is, that the future state pension will be means-tested.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

This only means that the rich are getting richer, while the rest is getting poorer by day...

Meritocracy is a bliss.

Work h̶a̶r̶d̶e̶r̶ smarter.

2 ( +11 / -9 )

Almost entirely on the back of the cheap yen which is being used to bolster the Japanese economy to counter the regional geopolitical threats

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Interesting, the yen is being sold off.

GBP-Yen is 190 today

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Makes for nice headline, positive sentiment for the public, but reality of daily life in Japan quite a different matter. Keep in mind entire Nikkei index, PLUS all smaller listed firms, has about same $ value as just Apple & Microsoft combined = not so great.

Besides, without all BOJ money printing ETF purchases, what would index's real value be today? Are there any true global Corp. Champions in Japan today?

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Really amazing! This is a great and wonderful time for all in Japan making huge amounts of money on the soaring stock market

It certainly is a great time. Perhaps not yet quite on the level of the late 80s in Japan when cashed up drinkers were known to order cocktails with real gold sprinkled in - and using ¥10,000 notes to soak up facial sweat - and then discard them in the trash! Heady days.

Let's just hope the sky is the limit for the market!

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Now I see why Buffet was bullish on Japan. Shareholders are all grinning now while us workers will just have to hope our miniscule saving we put towards Nikkei is going to get us a decent return for retirement.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

So where is my piece of the pie?

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Meritocracy

Often cited like "self-made", or entrepreneur. By people like the 45th Pres. who started out with "small 50 million dollar loans" from a magnate patriarch or a small legacy from an African emerald mine.

Pick just about any business or political leader in Japan and you will find find scant evidence of rising to their wealth and position by "merit". Same for the USA.

Everyone was free to invest in a Nikkei tracker.

Lazy and also often cited. Every one has the "freedom" to invest, get rich, but it is a negative liberty. There are no laws against it, but no means for the vast majority living paycheck to paycheck in precarious labor with few assets.

Record gains in corporate earnings for Japanese companies, hoarding of profits, giving workers a smaller and smaller share of the fruits of their labor

Is the reality for most workers in Japan, the Nikkei playground for financial whales be damned.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

There are no laws against it, but no means for the vast majority living paycheck to paycheck in precarious labor with few assets

Vast majority…

The vast majority does have 1,000 yen they could invest in some financial asset, if they wanted to.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

From what I can see, trickle down economics means that the rich piss on everyone else.

The Abenomics recipe is to devalue the yen, making everyone poorer, but the weaker yen does boost the value of export oriented stocks so owners get some compensation.

Overall I think it’s a silly recipe.

NO argument there.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Keyword "BUBBLE"

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

The yen will not be undervalued for ever.

This is a very, very risky assertion.

There is no guarantee that the yen will eventually recover its past strength.

This is a quote that ChatGPT cooked up for me:

The government financed … spending through deficit spending and extensive money printing, which led to hyperinflation and a depreciation of the yen's value. This inflationary pressure eroded the purchasing power of the currency and caused economic hardship for many Japanese citizens.

We can hope that Japan isn’t repeating past mistakes at this time… but it might be.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

Daninthepan...

So where is my piece of the pie?

Everyone was free to invest in a Nikkei tracker.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

While investment funds and large banks profit more and more

employees earn less and less.

This is a game where there is only one winner.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Japanese economy is not doing well but stock prices are being artificially expensive and stock market are being manipulated by big Wall Street banks and investment funds.

When all small investors continue buying thinking that the price will continue to rise, large funds will already be making their profit.

This is also proof that Japanese companies are all under the control of Wall Street and all profits will be taken away by these bloodsuckers.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

In foreign currency guaranteed investments my current return is 7% and rising on the weak yen.

I’m still betting against the Japanese market and it’s paying off!

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

the rich are getting richer.

It’s not their (our?) fault.

It’s the policy makers who are enacting the bad policies.

Please be careful to blame the policy makers, not the policy takers.

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

This is not good news - this is a precipitation for economic disaster.

Japan's yen is cheap, and people all over the world trade on JPX like penny stock buying and selling - the minute they all pull out and they will, Japan's stock market will crash.

If Japan just sit around like they always do, you know the inevitable outcome - bubbles burst...

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

This only means that the rich are getting richer, while the rest is getting poorer by day...

-5 ( +15 / -20 )

Really amazing! This is a great and wonderful time for all in Japan making huge amounts of money on the soaring stock market and our investments in Us Dollars and Swiss Francs! Congratulations everyone!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

That must mean the capitalisation of the top 225 companies is the same as it was 34 years ago.

-6 ( +9 / -15 )

It's mere empty topic that unrelated to general public life or real economy at all.

Poverty and inequality expand into society, reward for workers of social security are reduced, that is present Japan.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

I'm calling it now - the Nikkei to test 45,000 points by year end.

The reality here is much different! If things were so great, people would be getting 2024 level salaries, and be fully employed.

But the reality is that wages are stuck at 1999-2000 levels, lower full employment, more homeless.

 Confidence in Japan and Japanese corporations right now is sky-high.

Joke of the freaking year! Impossible to have confidence in a corporation that can't afford to increase wages to 2024 cost of living levels!

Sarcasm runs deep in this one!

-8 ( +24 / -32 )

One more bubble please.

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

The Abenomics recipe is to devalue the yen, making everyone poorer, but the weaker yen does boost the value of export oriented stocks so owners get some compensation.

That sounds much like the policies of the 60s, 70s and early 80s. Coddling and promoting exporting companies, while overtly and covertly preventing much foreign market access to Japan, was all the rage. The habits die hard.

-9 ( +9 / -18 )

Rises in stocks are backed by "expectations that the cheap yen will continue given the Bank of Japan's easing policies, which in turn will prompt a rise in prices and salaries

Salaries? Not really. They are now at a worst level than 20 years ago, it's ridiculous.

-11 ( +14 / -25 )

Blow off top on everything. Then global recession to end all recessions as the everything bubble nukes.

-12 ( +8 / -20 )

So does that mean we all get some monetary compensation? I'm not holding my breath.

From what I can see, trickle down economics means that the rich piss on everyone else.

-13 ( +25 / -38 )

Excellent news..

GO JAPAN!!..

Let the haters bark..

-17 ( +2 / -19 )

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