Renewed Talk of Yen Carry Trade Means Exporters Live Another Day

Watch the yen-U.S. dollar: we could see 119 for the first time since stocks sold-off globally back in late February. Yen weakness bodes well for Japanese exporters and Japanese stocks in general, despite the fact import costs rise. That is mostly overlooked, at least on the surface level. The yen carry trade remains too good a deal for the fast money to let slip away. Anyway, stocks were bought pretty much across the board today, as 31 of 33 TOPIX sectors traded higher and advancers outnumbered decliners 1,443 x 206. The Nikkei 225 gained 1.74% to 17,544.09, recovering 17,500 for the first time in seven trading days. TOPIX gained 1.54% to 1,730.52.