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Technology Stocks : Semi-Equips - Buy when BLOOD is running in the streets! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (6460)	8/1/1998 2:13:00 PM
From: Michael Sphar	Respond to of 10921

Not for a minute, but the Japanese mindset in aggregate has been characterized as being strategically focused. This implies a long term view. So who knows ? I'm still hoping to learn more about the specifics of what is to happen in December as contrasted with what happened on the Big Bang April date. A log of chimmychangas indeed!

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (6460)	8/1/1998 4:28:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10921

Japan's Yucho, Kampo cautious on euro investment TOKYO, July 30 (Reuters) - Japan's postal savings and postal life insurance systems will wait to see how European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) unfolds before determining their stance towards the euro, officials said on Thursday. ''We would like to see how the monetary union develops, so at this point we are not aggressively buying bonds denominated in EMU currencies,'' an official for the Postal Savings Bureau (Yucho) said. ''But we will allocate a certain amount of funds for foreign bonds, including euro-denominated bonds, in order to diversify risk, taking into account the high interest rates offered by foreign bonds compared to domestic bonds,'' the official said. Yucho deposits most of its money, which totals over 240 trillion yen, at the Finance Ministry's Trust Fund Bureau and invests the rest in financial markets on its own. Roughly three-fourths of its own investment, which totalled 45.7 trillion yen at the end of March, is in domestic bonds. Yucho's investment in foreign bonds totalled 3.6 trillion yen. It held 442.3 billion yen worth of German mark-denominated bonds and 111.0 billion yen worth of European Currency Unit (Ecu) denominated bonds at the end of March. Its holdings of German mark bonds rose by 296.0 billion yen from the previous year, while its holdings of Ecu bonds fell by 10.6 billion yen. The Postal Life Insurance System (Kampo), one of the largest institutional investors in the world, had assets worth 105.7 trillion yen at the end of March. A Kampo official said it was ''extremely interested'' in the euro, but added that there were too many uncertainties at this point to say what their investment stance would be when EMU starts in January 1999. ''We don't know how much market liquidity there will be, or how yields of euro-denominated bonds will move. We are now studying such issues,'' the official said. Kampo held 3.98 trillion yen worth of foreign bonds at the end of March. Among EMU first-wave currencies, Kampo held 234.3 billion yen in German mark bonds, 146.6 billion yen in Italian lire bonds and 120.6 billion yen in French franc bonds. The amount of its German bond holdings fell by 13.9 billion yen from a year earlier, Italian lire bonds fell by 46.6 billion yen and French franc bonds fell by 27.4 billion yen. biz.yahoo.com

To: Jim Willie CB who wrote (6460)	8/1/1998 8:12:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10921

"He quickly discovered that his comments can move the markets. The yen took an early dive in Tokyo trade after he said the markets would decide the value of the currency. Later he said the government would, of course, intervene if necessary". Isn't that what Hashimoto used to do for many months? œ30bn tax cut pledge to fix Japan economy By Juliet Hindell in Tokyo JAPAN'S new Prime Minister, Keizo Obuchi, promised huge tax cuts on his first day in office yesterday and pledged to fix the economy within two years. He said there was no "superman" who could cure the country's economic ills on his own but he would take "speedy" action. Mr Obuchi promised to keep campaign promises to implement œ30 billion tax cuts as soon as possible, financing them with government bonds. He acknowledged that there might be doubts about his ability to deal with economic issues, given that he had never worked at the Finance Ministry or held other relevant posts during his political career, but he said his family had run a small business so he was not totally ignorant about the economy. He said he believed that his newly appointed Finance Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, was the most suitable person to deal with the "confused" situation. But he has also appointed a specialist financial diplomat, Toyoo Gyohten, to explain Japan's policies abroad. International pressure is mounting to see quick results. Madeleine Albright, the American Secretary of State, said: "I think Mr Obuchi knows that he doesn't have a lot of time." He quickly discovered that his comments can move the markets. The yen took an early dive in Tokyo trade after he said the markets would decide the value of the currency. Later he said the government would, of course, intervene if necessary. As he started work, there was a reminder of just how serious the situation is. Japan's unemployment rate in June was reported to have jumped from 4.1 per cent to 4.3 per cent, the highest level yet. Men between the ages of 35 and 44 were worst affected, but job losses were high in all sectors, with a total of 2.84 million people out of work. The jobless total was 550,000 higher than for the same month last year. Most economists believe that unemployment will continue to rise and expect it to reach five per cent by next January. But unemployment is just one of the problems Mr Obuchi faces: Japan is mired in its worst recession since the Second World War; the country's banks are saddled with unrecoverable loans of at least œ400 billion and negative growth is forecast for the near term. It is a huge challenge for the man dubbed "Mr Ordinary" but he gave a solid if unexciting first live television performance. He spoke without notes and brushed off a gaffe made by the new agriculture minister. Shoichi Nakagawa, 45, said yesterday that there was no proof that so-called "comfort women" had been forced into prostitution for the Japanese army during the Second World War. He later retracted the comment. telegraph.co.uk