Japanese cosmetics company Shiseido has announced plans to introduce a new brand into China with the aim of gaining 20% growth in this market. According to Yasuhiko Harada, the chief financial officer of Shiseido, the company made revenues of JPY690 billion last year. Of the total revenue, 10% was from the Chinese market. Shiseido says that due [...]

Bill Bonner (The Daily Reckoning) In the short run, it might have enough life in it to bite investors on the derrière

London , England

We got back from South America on Friday… ready for a rest. So, we spent the weekend reading… and occasionally, thinking.

What we’ve been thinking is that the dollar is dead meat in the long run. But in the short run, it might have enough life in it to bite investors on the derrière.

The US stock market rose 73 points on Friday, to bring the Dow just 30 points south of the 10,300 mark. Why is this level important? It’s not really. But it reminds us that this is still just in “bounce range.” Big drops in stock prices are followed by bounces – always. A bounce of 50% of what was lost is not unusual. That’s what

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In this video clip, Marshall Auerback, Global Portfolio Strategist of RAB Capital, discusses with Brian Sullivan of Fox News how the US economy is comparable to Japan.

Watch the latest business video at <a href=”http://video.foxbusiness.com/” mce_href=”http://video.foxbusiness.com/”>FOXBusiness.com</a>

Source: Fox Business, November 9, 2009 (hat tip: Credit Writedowns).

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Economist.com: Cross my palm with euros? November 11, 2009. The dollar’s days as the world’s reserve currency are far from over.

• Randall Forsyth (Barron’s): Good and bad news in China’s currency shift, November 12, 2009. Allowing the remnimbi to rise may cut global imbalances but also tighten tap of liquidity.

• John Plender (Financial Times): Decline but no fall, November 11, 2009. As US president Barack Obama begins a tour of Asian capitals, the standard assumption in the west is that his meetings will be with leaders of nations that rank as America’s junior partners. Yet the reality is more complex. Amid the rubble of the financial crisis, the US position as singular superpower and

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Bill Bonner (The Daily Reckoning):

The Dow rose again yesterday – up 44 points. Gold went up too – to a new record of $1,114.

Can anything stop stocks and gold?

Trees do not grow to the sky, dear reader. And for every bounce there is a bust.

“It’s amazing, the US is doing everything that Japan did wrong,” said a friend yesterday.

Let’s see… in the 1980s Japan’s corporate leaders thought they were going to take over the world. Investors thought so too. They expanded. They wheeled. They dealed. Prices shot up and they all thought they were geniuses.

In the ‘80s, everyone wanted to be Japanese. Management consultants used Japanese words to describe commonplace insights.

For example, instead of saying that businesses always need to try to do things better, they referred to “kaizen” as if it were the secret of success.

And

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Daniel Gross (Newsweek): The greatest trade ever, November 10, 2009. How hedge fund manager John Paulson bet against the real estate bubble and made $15 billion in a single year.

• abc News: SocGen’s top analyst sees market lows next year, November 9, 2009. Albert Edwards, a top analyst with French bank Societe Generale, expects global markets to hit a new low in 2010, adding that he would not be surprised if the global economy enters another recession next year. Edwards, one of the leading equities bears and a long-term critic of the policies of Western central banks, is skeptical of popular opinion that extreme policy response will safeguard the West against a repeat of Japan’s lost decade of the 1990’s.

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Richard Koo, the world-renowned chief economist of Nomura Research Institute, discussed the lessons learned from Japan’s “lost decade” during a presentation at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). During his discussion, Koo suggested that government stimulus can play a key role in alleviating the problems of a balance sheet recession. Koo’s recent book, “The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japan’s Great Recession”, discusses these issues in greater detail.

Source: CSIS, October 29, 2009.

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(click on pictures for better viewing)

Last week, we learned that industrial production rose yet again in Japan clocking in at 1.4% month-on-month in September after having increased by 1.6% in August.

Companies said they planned to increase production in October and November as well, indicating the recovery from a record export collapse in the first quarter is holding up. Growth in China is generating sales for manufacturers including Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., which this week said it has worked off stockpiles that piled up during the recession.

“The pace of the recovery is faster than expected,” said Hiroshi Miyazaki, chief economist at Shinkin Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. Withdrawal of stimulus in the U.S. and Europe may cause output and exports to slow down this quarter, Miyazaki said, “but so far, today’s production report showed few signs

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This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Renae Merleq (The Washington Post): Lurking doubts launch a sell-off, October 31, 2009. Wall Street recorded its sharpest drop in six months Friday as investors, who have been groping for evidence that an economic recovery is gaining steam, responded to renewed signs of weakness calling into question how vigorous the rebound might be.

• John Authers (Financial Times): OK, I called the rally wrong - and here’s why, October 31, 2009. Where did I go wrong? I often ask myself this question, but this is the first time I have asked it on the back page of the Weekend FT.

• Robert Johnson (Morningstar): No denying anymore, October 31, 2009. Their new mantra is that the

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The international food and beverage giant Yum! Brands plans to acquire an additional 7.3% stake in the Chinese hot pot restaurant chain Little Sheep after taking a stake of over 20% in the company earlier this year. According to a report published by Little Sheep, Yum! has made provisional plans to buy 75,042,456 shares at the [...]