Peter Landers

1 min read The government likely deployed some $20 billion after the Federal Reserve stood pat on Wednesday, data Thursday from the Bank of Japan suggested.

With subsidies and a $6 billion acquisition, Tokyo wants to make its companies indispensable in the global supply chain.

The answer lies in the details of their pay programs, Global Governance Advisors says Article content

When Japan's Nikkei Stock Average hit a new record this February for the first time in 34 years, a healthy U.S. economy and extremely low interest rates in Japan seemed to promise a solid floor for the market. Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda's surprisingly hawkish comments late Wednesday represented a shock to investors, said Bank of America strategist Masashi Akutsu. "Until now, the consensus was that rate increases would be gradual," Akutsu said, but Ueda instead suggested an aggressive upward push.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average on Tuesday clawed back about three-quarters of the ground it lost Monday, rising 10.2% to close at 34675.46. + The yen

After suffering its worst day in percentage terms since 1987, Japan's Nikkei 225 notched one of its best days. + Tech stocks that got hammered on

Nippon Steel miscalculated the U.S. political implications of a foreign company taking over a major employer in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

Japan’s next leader will be a former defense minister who wants to reshape what he sees as an unequal alliance with the U.S., presaging possible tensions with Washington.

Masayoshi Son reiterated his bullish forecasts for artificial intelligence in a speech that stressed advances made by OpenAI.

TOKYO—Honda and Nissan said they planned to merge in 2026, a move Honda chief executive said wasn’t a rescue of troubled Nissan but a recognition that developing new technologies was too hard to do alone. The companies said they intended to create an automaker that, combined with Nissan partner Mitsubishi Motors, would be the third-largest carmaker in the world, after Toyota and Volkswagen, with more than eight million vehicles sold annually. The announcement came at the end of a year in which Nissan’s profit has tumbled in part because of a dated model lineup in the U.S. Both companies have cratered in China, where electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are growing quickly.