As rate on 2-year T-Bills gets ready to pass 10-year bills presaging a recession, surely due to President Bush's wise fiscal leadership, the Japanese are eager for inflation. Which may finally be starting to happen.
In Japan, an End To Falling Prices May Soon Be Near
December 27, 2005
TOKYO – Japan's most-watched price indicator rose for only the second time in seven years, fueling expectations of an end to a long period of economy-hobbling price falls.
The nationwide core consumer-price index, which excludes volatile fresh-food prices, rose 0.1% in November from a year earlier, the government said. Economists say the indicator has a good chance of continuing to rise, marking a turning point for the world's second-largest economy. The data follow three years of higher Japanese corporate profits, which have led to more investment and consumer spending. If the increases continue, they could point toward an end to the central bank's super-easy monetary policy.
This gradual tightening of monetary policy is expected to lift interest rates modestly: The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond is about 1.5%, but economists think it will rise over the next year.
