June 11, 2021 (Friday) Fine Weather Major SQ

・Major retailers embark on logistics reforms to shorten online delivery times and prevent stockouts.

Aeon <8267> [Closing price 2963.0 yen] Replacing dedicated warehouses with shipments from multiple large stores, delivering next-day in the three major metropolitan areas including Tokyo.

Fast Retailing <9983> [Closing price 83280 yen] Redirecting store stock to online orders. Integration of stores and online continues.

Workman <7564> [Closing price 7770 yen] To abolish its online-only warehouse by August, shifting to delivering from store stock and stores’ warehouses.

Also designating stores as pickup locations for online orders. Aiming for about 800 stores nationwide to offer pickup as soon as 30 minutes after ordering.

・Persol HD <2181> [Closing price 2257 yen] Entering the foreign worker placement business for those with specified skilled worker status.

After loosening entry restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting by accepting over 100 people from Asia for caregiving purposes.

Aiming to intermediating 3,000 people annually in 2024. Signs of recovery in foreign employment as well.

・Toshiba <6502> [Closing price 4720 yen] On the 10th, received a report from a lawyer who investigated the operation of the July 2020 shareholders meeting.

The report points out that Toshiba acted in close cooperation with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in addressing the issue.

It concludes that the meeting was not conducted fairly.

If the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry intervened in the meeting of a single company, it would raise questions about corporate governance of Japanese companies.

Toshiba will study the contents of the report and consider how to respond.

The METI Public Relations Office commented, "We are checking the contents."

At Toshiba’s July 2020 shareholders meeting, there were points raised that the voting rights of some shareholders were invalidated or could not be exercised.

・U.S. Labor Department on the 10th: May consumer price inflation reached 5.0% year-on-year, up 0.8 points from April.

With rapid economic reopening due to vaccine rollout, supply of components and labor cannot keep up, fueling inflation pressure.

The CPI inflation rate has exceeded 2% since March, reaching its highest level since August 2008 in May.

Ongoing long-term monetary easing by the Fed amidst inflation risks could destabilize global financial markets and shake the post-COVID world economy.

・Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturer, is considering building Japan’s first semiconductor plant in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Japan aims to revive its domestic semiconductor industry from the perspective of economic security.

If the company’s cutting-edge semiconductor technology is attracted to Japan, it would be a major tailwind.

There are plans being considered to construct a large-scale factory in Kumamoto Prefecture using 300-mm silicon wafers.

・Government on the 10th: plan to lift the “Priority Preventive Measures” for three prefectures (Gumma, Ishikawa, Kumamoto) by the 13th.

・European Central Bank (ECB) on the 10th decision to continue current pace of bond purchases.

With improving economy and prices, whether to maintain the pace is a focus; reducing it could be seen as a step toward exit from accommodative policy by markets.

・Japan Post <6178> [Closing price 905.5 yen] On the 10th, announced it would buy back up to 250 billion yen of its own shares on the 11th.

Purchase price is 905.5 yen per share, with a cap of about 276 million shares.

Domestic price polarization becomes more evident.

Bank of Japan <8301> [Closing price 31500 yen] On the 10th, the May producer price index rose at the fastest pace in about 13 years year-on-year, while consumer prices continued to fall.

Many companies remain cautious about price increases due to strong consumer pinch. If proper pass-through of costs cannot be achieved, corporate profits won’t rise and wage growth won’t spread.

・NPO Agricultural Bank of Japan (JA Shinkin Bank) in nationwide JA Bank personal asset management business will partner with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group <8306> [Closing price 622.3 yen].

Begin offering “fund wrap” services, where assets entrusted by JA Bank clients are managed at discretion.

JA Bank’s individual savings balance is close to 100 trillion yen.

・Mizuho Bank <8411> [Closing price 1635.5 yen] System outage leads to the Financial Services Agency ordering improvements within the month and strict prevention of recurrence.

・SOMPO HD <8630> [Closing price 4276 yen] Establishing a new digital business company as early as July.

Collaborating with global startups to develop new businesses in health care and other areas, handling sales of services comprehensively.

・ESG (environment, social, governance) investment money is flowing into real assets such as farmland, forests, and water resources.

As ESG investing spreads, equities and bonds appear to be fairly valued.

Investing to protect nature’s richness as well.

・Investor sentiment globally is improving.

The worldwide Investor Confidence Index for June, compiled by independent research firm Sentix, reached 29.3, the highest in three years and four months since February 2018.

The rise marks 14 consecutive months of gains. Europe’s recovery due to economic normalization is notable.

・Latest global COVID-19 infection numbers (new cases and deaths by day) as of 4:00 p.m. on 6/10, according to Johns Hopkins University: World total 174.43 million (10,832 deaths)

U.S. 33,414,114 (439) India 29,182,532 (2,177) Brazil 17,122,877 (2,723) France 5,ônia7,125 (65) Turkey 5,306,690 (87) Russia 5,096,657 (393)

U.K. 4,551,694 (6) Italy 4,237,790 (77) Argentina 4,038,528 (605) Germany 3,715,870 (95) Spain 3,715,454 (23) Colombia 3,633,481 (471)

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Here is the translated HTML with the content converted to English, keeping the HTML format and not adding line breaks: Domestic price polarity (two-tier) becomes clearly evident