Foreign exchange gains offset by equity, bond market weakness
Merchandise trade down, services activity flat from previous quarter
Benchmark interest rate stays at minus 0.1%, taking a nimbler approach to keep financial markets stable
Kazuo Ueda has the difficult task of steering the world's third-largest economy out of a time of ultra-easy credit
Japan had been a holdout among major industrialized nations in allowing yields to rise
Rating action follows sovereign downgrade
Increased uncertainty over country’s political commitment to fiscal consolidation
Actions follow downgrade of the government of Japan’s rating
The government is confronting its long-standing deflation, with an aggressive tax policy and labour reform. Many portfolio managers are optimistic about the effects of the 2020 Olympics, predicting stock appreciation in some sectors