Tech companies are still facing a tough time with drops in product prices. |
The acquisition will definitely hurt TDK and Alps because they're likely to lose a major client. |
The bright spot right now is the commodity stocks given the rising raw material prices. |
The economy and corporate earnings, in the long term, remain firm, which will benefit shares. That's helping shares rebound from yesterday's losses. |
The outlook for technology companies is getting better, as inventories remain low and declines in product prices slow. Gains in U.S. technology stocks are reassuring investors as well. |
The rate increases don't seem to be deterring U.S. investors. That boosted confidence to buy more Japanese shares. |
The recent gains were just a bit too much, too fast. |
The U.S. report on worker productivity and labor costs has made it quite difficult for investors to have a good idea of when the rate hikes will actually end. That's keeping a lid on the market. |
There's a high correlation between banks and real estate stocks. |
There's some concern expansion in real estate loans may be curtailed by higher rates. There's a high correlation between banks and real estate stocks. |
Tokyo Electron's earnings revision gave the opportunity for investors who were waiting to buy technology shares. Investors are turning positive toward technology companies. |
We've got oil rising again and the yen strengthening, and that will trigger some selling in technology stocks as they have been the recent winners. We're going to see some investors locking in their recent gains. |
With prices such as oil and gold climbing, shares of commodity producers will get a boost. I rate Konica Minolta's decision to get out of the camera business a plus. |