Unexpectedly strong growth is providing some reason for cheer

While the rest of the developed world benefited from significant amounts of liquidity injected via Quantitative Easing (QE) programmes, Japan had a comparatively tight fiscal policy.

Indeed, earlier in the year there was something of an exodus from Japanese equities as the lack of government funded debt made other countries relatively more attractive. Added to this, making any kind of a forecast by companies was, at times, extremely challenging. Fortunately, we are now seeing less volatility combined with a more certain and positive outlook. The latest GDP data from June to September reveals annualised growth of 4.8%, which is 1.2% quarter on quarter growth. This is much better than widely expected and very strong when placed in a global context. Perhaps unsurp...