Risk Watchdog has just returned from Greater Tokyo, where I spent a week trying to get a handle on what’s happening in Japan. Regular readers will recall that I have generally been bearish on Japan’s economy, so this was a good opportunity for a first-hand refresher.

I say ‘Greater Tokyo’, because I also visited Tokyo’s [Read more...]

In light of recent economic data from the US, Tim Cooper - Global Economic Strategist at Business Monitor International - suggests that the US recession may now be over. However, he believes that there is little to cheer about at this stage, as the recovery process will be very prolonged and slow.

 

 End Of The US Recession [10:33m]
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Although everyone is talking about inflation right now, when we look at developed markets, we see reason to believe that 2009 in fact heralds a period of deflation. After all, when you strip out oil and food prices, there is not much inflation around. For example, core inflation in the US has remained steady at [Read more...]

There’s a growing school of thought that it is time to buy into the Nikkei. The argument goes something like this:

Japan is practically the only country in the world that is benefiting from rising inflation – because it has extricated itself from a decade of deflation.
Japan is one of the most energy-efficient countries in the [Read more...]