Possibly more interesting is what the equity markets are doing.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Japanese stocks finished at a fresh eight-month high on Monday, as the yen weakened following Shinzo Abe's return to power as Prime Minister of Japan, while stocks in mainland China continued to gain after Friday's strong performance.A quick look at robot-maker, Nikkei component and all-around class act FANUC shows someone had more foresight than I, it was up 1.4% yesterday and is up 20% in the last two months despite missing forecasts in its last report.
In the final week of trading before Christmas, the focus was on Asia's two largest economies, as investors in both China and Japan digested developments over the weekend.
The U.S. dollar rose to its strongest level against the yen since April 2011 early Monday, to as high as ¥84.48, after the Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide victory in Japan's general election on Sunday. The greenback pulled back from its peak, but remained up on the day at ¥83.90 compared with ¥83.52 late Friday in New York.
The LDP's victory was largely expected, with the yen softening during the buildup to the election amid expectations that the new government will introduce aggressive monetary easing. Over the last five weeks, the U.S. dollar had advanced 5.1% against the Japanese currency....MORE
As another Dow Jones story commented:
...Utilities were a major beneficiary of the LDP victory, with Tokyo Electric Power soaring 32.9%, as the new ruling party is discussing restarting the nation's idle nuclear power plants. Kansai Electric Power also shot up 17.7%....That's not just short covering, that's a whole new mindset.
