Japan's election triggers cautious market response
LONDON : As far as investors are concerned, Japan's upper house election has been a sell on the rumour, buy (a little) on the fact.
Japanese markets are closed for the Marine Day public holiday, so liquidity has been lacking, but so far the yen is up a shade on the dollar and euro while Nikkei futures NKC1 traded in Chicago are much in line with Friday's cash close.
Wall Street futures are up a fraction, and European futures are down a touch.
While the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house by three seats, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seems to be safe for now, though he will have to find support from minor parties to pass legislation.
The government can also continue its fraught tariff negotiations with the US administration.
The talks still seem deadlocked, partly over agricultural imports, which are politically and culturally very sensitive for Japan, as President Donald Trump's arbitrary Aug 1 deadline approaches fast.
The EU is in much the same situation. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick says he's confident a deal can be struck, but the EU side is preparing a list of US products for retaliation levies.
The EU is also trying to use China as leverage with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa meeting with President Xi Jinping there on Thursday.
Meanwhile, reports suggest Trump might meet Xi sometime in October or November, with the US already having allowed the export of chips to China apparently in return for a resumption of rare earth shipments.
Markets are assuming the worst will be avoided on tariffs, though analysts suspect the effective US tariff rate could well be a bit above the 1930's levies that contributed so much to the Great Depression.
Much of that optimism rests on earnings with the first of the megacaps reporting this week in the shape of Alphabet and Tesla.
Results from Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics should also confirm the windfall from a ramp up in global defence spending.
The diary for the rest of Monday is virtually blank, but there's always Trump to watch.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
US House Speaker Johnson says Epstein case 'not a hoax'
FILE PHOTO: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) takes questions from reporters at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 23, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal was "not a hoax" in an interview released on Thursday, as the case continued to stoke turmoil within President Donald Trump's party. Trump has denounced the furor over his late friend, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender as "the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax" and urged his fellow Republicans without success to drop the issue. "It's not a hoax. Of course not," Johnson said in an interview with CBS News. Johnson said on Tuesday he would send lawmakers home a day early for a five-week summer recess to avoid a political fight over whether to make public additional files on Epstein, who hung himself in a New York City jail in 2019, according to New York City's chief medical examiner. Even so, a Republican-controlled subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday approved a subpoena seeking all Justice Department files on Epstein. Three Republicans joined five Democrats to back the effort, in a sign that Trump's party was not ready to move on from the issue. "We want full transparency. We want everybody who is involved in any way with the Epstein evils — let's call it what it was — to be brought to justice as quickly as possible. We want the full weight of the law on their heads," Johnson told CBS in the interview, conducted on Wednesday. A disclosure on Wednesday about Trump's appearance in the Justice Department's case records threatened to deepen a political crisis that has engulfed his administration for weeks. The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Trump in May that his name appeared in investigative files related to Epstein. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Alphabet hit with EU antitrust complaint by six digital rights groups
FILE PHOTO: The new Google logo is seen in this illustration taken May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Alphabet was targeted with an EU antitrust complaint from six human and digital rights groups on Thursday which urged EU regulators to investigate whether the tech giant complies with legislation requiring it to make it easier for users to uninstall software apps. The EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which took effect two years ago, sets out a list of dos and don'ts for seven Big Tech companies including Alphabet unit Google, in an attempt to curb their power and give rivals more room and users more choice. British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19, European Digital Rights (EDRi), Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), Gesellschaft fur Freiheitsrechte (GFF), Homo Digitalis, and said Alphabet allegedly has not complied with the DMA. They said the alleged violation concerned a DMA requirement that gatekeepers or companies which provide a core platform service to business users, shall technically enable users to easily uninstall software applications on the gatekeeper's operating system. "Alphabet has designed its Core Platform Service Android in a way to hide from end users the possibility to disable its own pre-installed gatekeeper apps," they said in their complaint. "What is more, Alphabet goes to great length to scare away end users who have found that possibility against all odds of actually disabling Google's pre-installed apps," they said. The group called on the European Commission to investigate the issue. Alphabet refuted the allegations. "It is easy to uninstall apps on Android devices, so this complaint does not represent a genuine user concern. Other regulators, including the CMA, have previously dismissed this complaint," a Google spokesperson said. The CMA is the British competition watchdog. The Commission confirmed receipt of the complaint, saying it is currently assessing it under its standard procedures. (Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Susan Fenton)
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Hulk Hogan helped turn pro wrestling into billion-dollar spectacle
HULK Hogan, the American sports and entertainment star who made professional wrestling a global phenomenon and loudly supported Donald Trump for president, has died at the age of 71, World Wrestling Entertainment said on Thursday. "WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture's most recognisable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s," WWE said on X. It gave no cause of death. The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars. A key moment in that evolution came at the WrestleMania III extravaganza in 1987, when Hogan hoisted fellow wrestler Andre the Giant before a sold-out Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan for a thunderous body slam of the Frenchman. Hogan parlayed his wrestling fame into a less successful career in Hollywood, starring in films like "Rocky III" and "Santa With Muscles," but kept returning to the ring as long as his body would allow. In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Trump, who in the 1980s had played host to Hulk-headlined WrestleManias. Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail. "Let Trumpamania run wild, brother!" Hogan bellowed to a cheering crowd, ripping off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top. "Let Trumpamania rule again!" Born Terry Gene Bollea in Augusta, Georgia, on Aug. 11, 1953, the future Hulk and his family soon moved to the Tampa, Florida area. After high school, he played bass guitar for area rock bands, but felt a pull to the red-hot wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s. Many of the details of his career were showbusiness exaggerations, representative of the blurred lines between fact and fiction in wrestling. His first trainer reportedly broke Hogan's leg to dissuade him from entering the business, but he kept at wrestling, weight training, and - he later admitted - anabolic steroids. He gained in notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the "24-inch pythons." The "Hulk" moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time. He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years. "Hogan" was the invention of promoter Vincent J. McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars. His appearance as wrestler Thunderlips in "Rocky III," where he dwarfed leading man Sylvester Stallone, rocketed Hogan to the mainstream. Upon a return to the WWF, now controlled by McMahon's son Vincent K., he defeated the Iron Sheik in 1984 to claim the world championship, a belt he would hold for four years. Hogan became a household name, appearing on the cover of magazine Sports Illustrated and performing alongside pop culture stars like Mr. T. The WWF came to dominate wrestling, anchored by its annual WrestleMania pay-per-view events. Later, he joined competitor World Championship Wrestling, swapping his trademark yellow tights for black and taking on a persona as the villainous "Hollywood" Hogan, the head of a gang of rulebreakers known as the New World Order. The gimmick reinvigorated his career. Hogan eventually returned to the WWF, now known as WWE, and faced Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at WrestleMania in 2002. "I'm in better shape than him," Hogan told Reuters at the time, five months shy of his 50th birthday. "I'll stand next to The Rock and pose down with him if he wants to." The Rock ultimately won the match. Hogan was inducted twice into the WWE Hall of Fame, and referred to himself as the "Babe Ruth" of wrestling - after the New York Yankees' famed baseball player. But Hogan's support of Trump in 2024 did not go down well with all wrestling fans, and he also faced other controversies. Gossip website Gawker was shuttered after it posted parts of a sex tape between him and a friend's wife and Hogan sued on privacy grounds, winning a US$140 million judgment. In 2015, he was suspended by the WWE after another surreptitious recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur. He was reinstated in 2018. He was married three times and had two children, who starred alongside him and first wife Linda in a 2005-2007 reality TV show, "Hogan Knows Best."
