Unloved Japan is no longer tied to US

ON JAPAN

Pictet's Sam Perry says there is a standard misconception that Japan exports rely solely on the US.

It has been a rare pleasure for Japanese investors to celebrate being the best-performing major market. In 2010, among major global markets, only NASDAQ managed a convincing outperformance of TOPIX. The uncharitable would point out this is only true in common currency and really it was ‘just’ down to the strength of the yen. However, the resilience of the market in the face of a rising yen is striking given the standard (mis-)conception of Japan as being an export-led market tied to the US. On this view, as the currency goes up, earnings go down. By implication, the domestic economy i...