TOKYO: Japan posted its biggest trade surplus of 240 billion yen in February over the last four years, according to the Ministry of Finance. There was a trade deficit of 648.8 billion yen in January. Although imports and exports fell in February, the strengthening yen and weak oil prices gave a trade surplus in February. This was the biggest trade surplus since September 2011.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the exports only fell 4% to 5.7 trillion yen in February. The imports fell 14% to 5.46 trillion yen in February. The fall in exports and imports indicated slowing demand overseas and in Japan.
Japan’s (EWJ) (DXJ) imports from the Middle East fell 35% in February from a year ago. Japan’s exports to the US (SPY) (QQQ) rose 0.2%. The imports from the US rose by 5% in February. The US is Japan’s major export market. Japan’s imports from China fell 21%. The exports to China rose 5%.
The slowing demand overseas spread across Japan’s various industries, but it mainly impacted the machinery and electronics exporting industries. Major exporting stocks such as Toyota (TM), Honda (HMC), and Sony (SNE) fell 13.5%, 7.2%, and 9.3%, respectively, in February. In the next part, we’ll analyze how US mortgage applications performed in the week ending on March 11, 2016.
