Goldman Sachs' David Townshend believes slowing Asian economies and many depreciating currencies in the region bode negatively for the Japanese economy.
Japan bears have recent history on their side. For much of the last two decades, Japan's economy was plagued by low growth and deflation, while many Japanese companies suffered from sub-par corporate governance and profitability. Japanese investors shied away from equities and stocks tended to trade in a boom/bust cycle. The net result was flat returns for the Topix from 1995-mid-2012. Bears will argue Prime Minister Abe's reform results are still mediocre: GDP growth estimates for the next few years still lag other developed markets, while headline inflation is nowhere near 2%. An...
To continue reading this article...
Join Investment Week for free
- Unlimited access to real-time news, analysis and opinion from the investment industry, including the Sustainable Hub covering fund news from the ESG space
- Get ahead of regulatory and technological changes affecting fund management
- Important and breaking news stories selected by the editors delivered straight to your inbox each day
- Weekly members-only newsletter with exclusive opinion pieces from leading industry experts
- Be the first to hear about our extensive events schedule and awards programmes