So much for the morning rally. An S&P upgrade of Japan’s long-term credit rating one notch to “AA” from “AA-” resulted in buying of yen, and the rest is no surprise, selling of exporters and sustained weakness in domestic oriented and smaller-cap stocks. The Nikkei finished 2.75 points (0.02%) higher to 17,455.37 (range: 17,413.64 – [...]

Blue chip exporters are leading the rally. Thank the Dow — 13,000?! Domestic oriented stocks and most financial stocks are weak — one exception of strength is ORIX (JP: 8591) (IX). There’s a clear and present preference. We’re still seeing bullishness in Kyocera (JP: 6971) (KYO) and TDK (JP: 6762) (TDK), but surprised to see [...]