NIKKEI (Japan) 15,000! First Time Since January 2008

TBI ^ | 5-14-2013 | Sam Ro

[blam]

NIKKEI 15,000! First Time Since January 2008

Sam Ro
May 14, 2013, 8:07 PM

Markets just opened in Asia, and they're following the U.S. markets way higher.

Of note is Japan's Nikkei 225, which just burst through 15,000.

Dow Jones reports this is the first time the Nikkei has been above 15,000 since January 4, 2008.

Leading the way is electronics maker Sony, which is up by around 12%. Hedge fund heavy hitter Dan Loeb made a proposal to management to split up the company. Loeb said he was willing to commit a significant amount of capital to support the IPO of Sony's entertainment division.

On Tuesday morning, markets were in the red. But they quickly turned around at just before 8:00 AM ET.

That was when influential hedge fund manager David Tepper appeared on CNBCand presented his uber-bullish case for stocks. To sum things up, he noted that the global economy was improving and global central banks were easing.

He also pointed to the equity risk premium — a way to value stocks — was at historically high levels, which suggested stocks were cheap. Experts like Aswath Damodaran, Jim O'Neill, Lazslo Birinyi, and Barry Ritholtz have all noted the bullish nature of this metric

(snip)

[Vince Ferrer]

Well yeah, but they’ve been devaluing the currency so why get exited?

[blam]

BILL FLECKENSTEIN: Markets Could Be On The Verge Of A 'Blowup' Thanks To Japan

"Japanese money printing has helped weaken the yen and boost Japanese stocks.

(snip)

"What is going on in Japan is potentially very, very dangerous not just for Japan but for world markets. And, I’m not speaking about the Nikkei. What has taken place in the Japanese JGB [Japanese government bond] is extraordinary."

(snip)

[blam]

"Well yeah, but they’ve been devaluing the currency so why get exited?"

You mean excited? (see my post #2)

[Vince Ferrer]

Yeah, something like that.

[bruinbirdman]

Not even half way to 1990

yitbos

[GeronL]

not even halfway to 1990 in 1990 dollars!

[Ron C.]

"not even halfway to 1990 in 1990 dollars"

Well, I wish I could find data on circa-1954. Back then I had just become a 'teenager' - gasoline was 25 cents a gallon, cigarettes were also 25 cents a pack. I got paid 50 to 70 cents an hour on three jobs, two in grocery stores, one at the local drive-in theater. I worked all three every day, and night.

We had no Japanese products - they were just a defeated enemy. (But, I remember well the first product that came into my hands from there - a wee bird made from cut up tin cans, then painted.)

But the biggest difference then - across this nation - was seen in the size of the congregations that showed up at churches in every town, from one end of the nation to the other.

Now it looks more like we are the defeated nation.

[blam]

"(But, I remember well the first product that came into my hands from there - a wee bird made from cut up tin cans, then painted.) "

I remember that. They were painted on the outside only...look on the inside and see what product the can originally contained as their paint and logo were still there.

[VanShuyten]

His comment on the Japanese bond is misleading. He says the yield went from 60 to 86 basis point, and then says “Imagine if the US notes went from 6% to 8.6%.” It would be more accurate to imagine T-bills going from 0.6% to 0.86%.