The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Japan Sept exports rise 2.4% year/year
- Military data possibly stolen in Mitsubishi Heavy hacking
- Europeans must stop dithering, Australia PM says
| Japan Sept exports rise 2.4% year/year Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:19 PM PDT TOKYO, Oct 24 (Reuters) Japan's exports rose at a slightly faster pace than expected in the year to September, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday, but the global slowdown and the strong yen are clouding the outlook for the economy's recovery from the March disasters. KEY POINTS: Exports rose 2.4 percent in September from a year earlier, compared with a median forecast for a 1.0 percent increase and following a 2.8 percent rise in the year to August. Imports increased 12.1 percent in September, against a forecast of a 12.6 percent rise. The trade balance turned to a surplus of 300.4 billion yen ($3.95 billion). That followed a deficit in the previous month and compared with a median forecast of a 198.8 billion yen surplus. Exports to Asia, which account for more than half of Japan's total exports, rose 0.2 percent from a year earlier. Exports to the United States were up 0.4 percent. COMMENTARY: YOSHIKI SHINKE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, DAIICHI LIFE RESEARCH INSTITUTE "The pace of recovery in exports is clearly slowing, and I'm not too optimistic about the outlook. The impact from slowing global growth will be felt more strongly, as well as the effect of yen rises. "The Bank of Japan will likely stand pat this week. If it were to ease, it would be in response to sharp yen rises. Much will depend on how stocks and the yen perform this week. "Japan may intervene in the currency market if dollar/yen stays sustainably below 76 or falls below 75. Unless it intervenes, the yen may continue to rise and verbal warnings alone may not be able to reverse that trend." BACKGROUND: The Japanese economy likely rebounded in the third quarter from the damage caused by a devastating March earthquake, but is expected to slow to a crawl in the final quarter due to an intensifying euro zone debt crisis that threatens to drag down the world economy, according to a Reuters poll. The Bank of Japan will probably cut its economic forecasts because of slowing global growth but keep monetary policy unchanged at a rate review on Thursday, unless European debt crisis talks this week disappoint and trigger market upheaval. Euro zone leaders are striving to agree on new steps to reduce Greece's debt, strengthen the capital of banks with exposure to troubled euro zone sovereigns and leverage the euro zone's rescue fund to stem contagion to bigger economies. ($1 = 76.130 Japanese Yen) Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Military data possibly stolen in Mitsubishi Heavy hacking Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:12 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Military data on weapons including warplanes and information on nuclear power plants may have been stolen during the cyber attack against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that became apparent in August, the Asahi newspaper reported on Monday. It is unclear if the military data, which includes information on defence equipment that Japan's Defence Ministry had ordered, is deemed as sensitive defence information, the Asahi said , citing a source close to the matter. Mitsubishi Heavy, Japan's biggest weapons supplier, said last month that network information such as IP addresses may have been leaked but that it had so far not confirmed any leaks on its products or technologies. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Europeans must stop dithering, Australia PM says Posted: 23 Oct 2011 05:10 PM PDT CANBERRA (Reuters) - European leaders must stop dithering over action to repair their troubled economies and urgently start taking real steps to restore confidence in the bloc, Group of 20 wealthy nations member Australia said on Monday. Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in her strongest comments yet on the sovereign debt crisis in the euro zone, told The Australian newspaper that Europe had been "living beyond its means" for decades, with the euro single currency hampering efforts to solve the problem. The euro zone's economic framework based around the euro meant that automatic stabilizers that would normally kick in to get the economy moving had not been available to policymakers, she said. "I'm very concerned that European leaders have been on what appears to be a never-ending journey of just seeking to muddle through. That's not going to cut it any more," said Gillard, who will attend the Group of 20 leaders meeting in Cannes in a fortnight. "Just muddling through on a wish and a prayer, and hoping they can jawbone markets into a better analysis of the European position, is clearly not enough," she told the paper. "That means the 'living beyond the means' deepens and deepens and deepens. There have been very half-hearted attempts to address that, a lot of game-playing, all these audits; the EU has been sending people to Greece to tut-tut about fiscal circumstances for a long period of time, but with no real action to follow it up." Gillard's comments were made as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel try to reach a deal over how to leverage the European Financial Stability Facility to try to stop bond market contagion. Sarkozy at the weekend backed down in the face of German opposition to his desire to use unlimited European Central Bank funds to fight the crisis. Instead, the euro zone may turn to emerging economies such as China and Brazil for help in underpinning its sickly bond market. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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