Japan

Submitted by Ben Hunt via Salient Partner's Epsilon Theory blog,

Submitted by Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg

Their imminent departure from evening news programmes is not just a loss to their profession; critics say they were forced out as part of a crackdown on media dissent by an increasingly intolerant prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and his supporters.

 

One look at Japan's bond yields, which moments ago hit a fresh record low for the 20Y maturity as the curve slowly but surely inverts...

.... and one would think Haruhiko Kuroda would be delighted.

After all, when he launched NIRP three weeks ago, a world in which negative rates are now a reality, it should have been clear to everyone even children, that yields would collapse as the scramble for any positive yield was unleashed.

Seriously - how many more times can a central bankers' policies be exposed for the total sham that they are?

“The turmoil in global markets is making companies cautious about spending and also weakening global demand. That will be negative to Japanese exports,” Hiroaki Muto, chief economist at Tokai Tokyo Research Center in Tokyo, said before the trade report was released.

 

One day after markets saw a violent return of optimism, which sent stocks around the globe and US equity futures soaring (the US was closed for President's Day) driven by terrible Japanese and Chinese economic data which in turn hinted at more central bank easing, animal spirits have cooled off despite some truly unprecedented Chinese credit numbers.