EWJ Stock Recent News

Japan's stock market is hitting new highs due to strong fiscal flows from government spending, current account surplus, and rising bank credit creation. Government spending at over 4% of GDP, a positive current account balance, and increasing bank credit creation are driving aggregate demand and asset market growth.

Topping the list and outperforming in that span have been emerging market countries like Brazil and India, which are both up well over 6.5%. International ETFs don't only have momentum on their side, but they also offer higher yields than the US at the current moment. Across all 22 ETFs, the average yield stands at 3.25%.

EWJ has barely moved since our HOLD rating on it 11 months ago, and has underperformed global stocks. Japanese authorities are taking efforts to boost the investing climate for domestic investors. Despite offering similar long-term earnings growth as global stocks, Japanese stocks can be picked up at a 25% discount.

Berkshire Hathaway has increased its stakes in five major Japanese trading houses, nearing the 10% ownership threshold. Warren Buffett's annual letter revealed that these trading houses have agreed to relax ownership limits, allowing Berkshire to expand its holdings. These tradings houses deal internationally in energy, mining, minerals, food & beverage, machinery and specialty chemicals.

Even Mexico and Canada, which were directly hit with U.S. tariffs, are outperforming Wall Street. The post While U.S. Stock Market Hobbles, These International Markets Rally; Two Are Up 23% appeared first on Investor's Business Daily.

Asian stock markets are trading lower on Monday, following negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. Investor sentiment has been impacted by concerns over higher inflation after the US imposed new tariffs over the weekend.

As the global private equity industry took tentative steps toward recovery in 2024, Japan raced ahead. The value of private equity investment in Japan jumped nearly 41% over the prior-year total in 2024, far outpacing the 25% year-over-year gain in global private equity deal value, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

Japan presents significant opportunities amid normalization and corporate reforms in the long-run. Short term risks are significant considering issues such as the weak Yen with appreciation pressure and shaky politics. Equities are relatively cheap compared with global peers but with good reasons.

Japan's market transformation towards shareholder-friendly initiatives and low earnings multiples make EWJ's current consolidation a buying opportunity, despite recent underperformance. EWJ offers diversified exposure to large and mid-cap Japanese equities, with a low 14.7 P/E ratio and a PEG ratio under 1.5. Technical analysis shows EWJ at trendline support with potential for bullish momentum, despite a bearish death cross and flat 200-day moving average.

The election victory has fueled a strong rally in US equities, but Trump's comeback is seen as a new risk factor elsewhere as Washington prepares to pivot to new edition of an “America First” policy. The latest surge in US shares has widened the lead for SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) year to date.