Cabinet approval rating 52.3%
April 20, 2021 (Tuesday) Clear; Nagoya and Tokyo 25°C as well
- Japanese companies rush to prepare for a “lifelong active work” era.
From April, companies are required to secure senior employment up to age 70.
YKK Group abolishes the standard retirement age for regular employees.
Daikin <6367> [ closing price 22,995 yen ] began a system allowing all volunteers to continue working until age 70.
Mitsui Sumitomo Industries <8285> [ closing price 456 yen ] abolished the retirement age for reemployment; for those 65 and older, annual renewal is used, and a pay raise system is established.
Mitsubishi Chemical <4188> [ closing price 855.1 yen ] will, in April 2022, raise the current retirement age from 60 to 65. Considering abolishing retirement in the future as well.
- Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura of Osaka Prefecture announced on the 19th that he would request the national government to declare a state of emergency for COVID-19.
A decision on the 20th. Although measures akin to the “Priority Measures to Prevent the Spread” are in place, it was judged that requests for closures of large stores and theme parks are necessary.
Aiming to issue similar requests to Tokyo within the week.
- SBI Securities <8473> [ closing price 3,150 yen ] will abolish stock trading commissions for customers aged 25 and under.
Regardless of daily trading volume, commissions for cash equity trades will be free for online brokerage, a domestic first.
From the 20th, for those 25 and under, full cash back of commissions on domestic cash equities.
The target group will be gradually expanded, aiming for complete fee-free trading by around 2022.
- Tencent Holdings, a Chinese Internet giant, subsidiary’s investment in Rakuten <4755> [ closing price 1,371 yen ] is in focus as the government works through the revised Foreign Exchange Act.
Investment by a major Chinese company in a domestic telecommunications firm could threaten security; while the revised act anticipated such pre-screening, it was exempt from strict scrutiny.
Since less than a year after its 2020 enactment, challenges such as monitoring systems have emerged.
- British investment fund to acquire Toshiba <6502> [ closing price 4,400 yen ] has been subject to FX-law scrutiny, etc.,
the importance of balancing cross-border M&A promotion with economic security is increasing.
How to strengthen practical responses to security threats without hampering market vitality.
- The Chinese leadership under Xi Jinping works to restrain criticism of U.S.-Japan summit meetings.
With continued talks on climate change with the United States, they wish to avoid heightened tensions and pass through the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party in a calm manner.
- Multiple Taiwanese media reported on the 19th that the U.S. government is likely to approve weapons sales to Taiwan for the first time under the Biden administration.
Sale of self-propelled artillery developed by the United States is expected.
Former President Trump’s push for arms sales to Taiwan may be continued by the Biden administration.
- The daily new COVID-19 cases (7-day moving average) topped 760,000 on the 17th, the highest ever.
A highly contagious variant is spreading, with cases rising sharply especially in developing and emerging countries.
A clear “Fourth Wave” of global infections is emerging.
- Renesas Electronics <6723> [ closing price 1,335 yen ] on the 19th,
announced that shipments from its Nak a (Naka) plant in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture, which had paused some operations since March due to a fire, are expected to resume in early July.
This is 7–10 days later than previously forecast. It will still take time to determine the cause of the fire.
- Nikkei Asian Review: About 1,000 listed companies with market cap under 10 billion yen were selected for “NEXT 1000,”
ranking by sales growth per employee over the last three years.
Companies that built more stable revenue streams, such as subscriptions and B2B sales, rank higher.
1st Pacific Net <3021> [ closing price 3,470 yen ] 25.6x growth in operating profit per employee over three years
2nd Sakura Port Co., Ltd. <9353> [ closing price 1,669 yen ] 20.8x
3rd Holon <7748> [ closing price 5,270 yen ] 9.6x
4th Alphapolis <9467> [ closing price 3,160 yen ] 6.3x
5th Nippon Techno-Labs <3849> [ closing price 1,430 yen ] 5.9x
- The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced on the 19th a plan to allow salaries to be deposited via smartphone apps with prior approval from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
It will establish five conditions to ensure that payments do not stall even if a cashless payment operator goes bankrupt, including a guarantee mechanism.
- Personal money shifting toward overseas stock is becoming more apparent.
In fiscal year 2020, a net inflow of 4.7 trillion yen into overseas stock-focused investment trusts contrasted with a net outflow of 1.4 trillion yen from Japanese stock-focused funds.
On an asset-management basis, overseas stock funds exceed Japanese stock funds by about threefold.
- SBI Securities <8473> [ closing price 3,150 yen ] from the 20th, will phase out stock trading fees.
Unlike U.S. brokerages that profit by connecting individual orders to large investors, Japan has limited resources for fee elimination.
- Bank of Japan <8301> [ closing price 33,000 yen ] at the 26–27 policy meeting, will consider lowering its 2021 inflation outlook.
Concerns about economic downturn due to COVID-19 persist, and the expectation is that mobile phone rate cuts will significantly depress prices.
They also plan to project that the 2023 inflation outlook will still fall short of the 2% target.
- Chinese smartphone leader OPPO takes the top market share in China.
In January it surpassed Huawei Technologies, which had led for a long time, and is likely to remain at the top through March.
However, market growth is leveling off; securing the next revenue source is a focus.
- Marriage rates in China continue to decline.
The National Bureau of Statistics reports that in 2020, the number of marriages registered fell 12% year on year to 8.13 million couples.
For seven consecutive years, marriages have fallen; the age of marriage is rising, accelerating low birthrates. The number of marriage registrations is down 40% from the peak in 2013.
- Global daily new COVID-19 infections (7-day moving average) as of 4/19 4:00 PM, compiled by Johns Hopkins University: World total 141.41 million cases (8,646 new deaths)
U.S. 31,669,897 (313 deaths) | India 15,061,805 (1,619) | Brazil 13,943,071 (1,657) | France 5,350,521 (140) | Russia 4,649,044 (383) | United Kingdom 4,403,060 (10)
Turkey 4,268,447 (318) | Italy 3,870,131 (251) | Spain 3,407,283 (0) | Germany 3,155,522 (81) | Argentina 2,694,014 (64) | Poland 2,688,025 (207)
× ![]()
