WEBVTT - Japan’s Bond Crash Sent Shockwaves Through Global Markets 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:07.200 Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News. 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:11.560 Ruth, what's it been like for you this past week? 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:16.079 If I can summon up in one word, it's manic. 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.040 Ruth Carson covers Asia's foreign exchange markets from Bloomberg. She 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:24.440 says she was prepared for things to get a little 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:26.200 busy Tuesday last week. 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.600 You had Trump threatening fresh Harris over Greenland. The US 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.920 was on holiday the day before, so the world's biggest 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.239 provider for liquidity and bonds was out. So there was 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:45.760 this tense nervous air across all the trading desks in Asia. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:50.760 Now that said, I thought things were under control enough 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:54.160 by mid morning on Tuesday for me to run out 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:57.560 quickly to get some Singapore chicken rice class this street. 0:00:58.880 --> 0:00:59.720 I should have nine. 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:04.160 There was such a big risk. Absolutely, by the time 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.720 she came back, the headlines started to roll in. 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:13.240 Japan's super long bonds showed record selling by insurers and 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.720 picked up in quick succession. By three pm, the volcanoes 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:24.600 suddenly erupted and my phone just started going ping, ping, ping, ping, pin, 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.720 Pink pink. Japan Today, JGB thirty year yields up twenty 0:01:28.720 --> 0:01:29.640 five basis points. 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.680 And that's what's now feeding into global bond. 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:34.640 Markets, and now the yields here are up a twenty 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:37.840 basis points to its highest level since the two thousand. 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.600 The Japanese forty year rates top four percent, at the 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:43.080 highest level since his debut in two thousand and seven. 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:46.240 It wasn't just hot headlines that investors were just going, 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.520 oh my god, what just happened. 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:54.000 The sudden selling in Japan's seven trillion dollar bond market 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:56.880 sent tremors throughout global financial markets. 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.080 Well, treasuries join a global bond sell officet, rattling higher 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.160 unsettling global fixed income markets. So it's not just fixed income, 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.400 it's the Dollar hour as well. Today's Big Take looks 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:06.640 at him. 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:10.280 A week after the meltdown, japan bond yields have settled somewhat, 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:14.400 but Ruth says the bond market crashed last week signals 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.160 a turning point for Japan. 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.560 You could always count under Japanese bond markets to be stable. 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.040 You could always count under Japanese to be an anchor 0:02:22.400 --> 0:02:26.320 to global rates, But no longer. Interest rates are rising 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.200 in Japan. The yen is so volatile it's ripping all 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:35.600 the trading books apart. All of this is beyond volatility. 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:39.400 It's a new regime for investing, and. 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.560 If the chaos continues, there are risks the ripples will 0:02:42.600 --> 0:02:46.400 reach ordinary Americans and consumers around the world. 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.480 This chaos is no longer a Japan problem. The chaos 0:02:49.520 --> 0:02:53.680 actually spread like wildfire into other markets, and that is 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:58.639 why we are seeing authorities in the US and other 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:03.600 places really stuff smarting to opine about the so called 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:13.120 export shock Japan has to the world. 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.960 This is the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanha. 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:25.920 Every week we take you inside some of the world's 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.960 biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons and 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:34.520 businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today, in the show, 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:38.440 what's happening in Japan's bond market? Who wins or loses 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:43.040 in the fallout, plus how ordinary Americans could be caught 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:51.280 in the crosshairs. Before we get into what's happening in 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.240 Japan's bond market, let's step back and look at how 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:55.240 bond markets work. 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:55.760 In general. 0:03:56.400 --> 0:04:00.000 Governments like the US or Japan sell bonds to borrow money. 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.720 Those bonds have a fixed timeline and a set rate, 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.080 say three percent for ten years. You buy the bond 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.240 and the government pays you that three percent every single year, 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.920 and once the ten years are up, they pay you 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:16.680 back your initial investment in full. Now, when interest rates 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.880 go up, the value of older bonds purchased at lower 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:24.159 rates goes down. For decades, Japan's interest rates were around 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:28.359 zero percent, but in recent years that started to change. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.960 If a particular central bank in this case, the Bank 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:37.600 of Japan raises interest rates, suddenly your bond value drops 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.280 because if the government sells more bonds at a current 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.160 new rate, you'll get you get high income. So why 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:46.800 would you want to hold the bond that you had 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.520 before you lose value on it. Imagine if you're, you know, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:55.680 putting money into a bank deposit, and this bank promise 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.840 you a three percent return on your safest investments ca 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.760 every single month, you know you get a three percent 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.279 annualize income from them. But hey, all of a sudden, 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.360 bang b is saying I'm going to give you four percent. 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:12.719 Most people would go, oh, man, I'm out. I'm closing 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.080 that account and I'm putting money into the one that's 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:16.120 going to give me four percent. 0:05:16.880 --> 0:05:21.600 Inflation has been rising in Japan since the pandemic, and 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.520 in twenty twenty four, the Bank of Japan hiked interest 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.240 rates for the first time in seventeen years. Since then 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.040 the country's central bank has moved four times to fight inflation, 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:36.279 pushing rates to their highest level in thirty years. Ruth 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.360 walk us through the chaos of what happened on January twentieth, 0:05:39.520 --> 0:05:42.919 the day the Japanese bond sell off began. What was 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:44.560 going through investors' minds. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.000 Investors were already very nervous. In particular, there was already 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:56.120 heightened tension around Japan because Prime Minister Sanai Takaichi had 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.000 called for a snap election of February eighth, but there 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:03.240 was also question marks around her fiscal stumulus. It was 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.560 a cocktail of risks. It was a pressure cooker environment 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:11.720 and something had to break. Then, at around twelve thirty 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.480 pm in Tokyo, an auction for twenty year bonds had 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:20.120 come out. The results and the auction drew weaker demand 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.159 than average, another bad sign for some of the riskiest 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.680 Japanese debt out there. So, the longer maturity to debt, 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:31.200 the riskier it is to buy the second death knell, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:33.440 if I can call it that. So, to put things 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.760 to perspective, this is a seven trillion dollar plus bond market. 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:43.400 It took only two hundred and eighty million dollars worth 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.120 of trading to tip it into meltdown. That's just a 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.920 fraction of the market, absolutely, So what does it tell you. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.880 It tells you that liquidity is so short in supply, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.400 or perhaps the traits are just so small that it 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.920 took just a little bit to tip the whole market 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:01.960 into chaos. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:04.919 On that point, I just wondered if you can elaborate, 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.159 I mean, if you invest in the markets, you're used 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.200 to volatility, But why is any sign of volatility in 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.000 the Japanese market so surprising to investors? 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:16.800 So we go back to the idea of Japan began 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:21.560 anchored to the world. Remember that for years, decades, even 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:27.560 Japan had incredibly low interest rates. It was so boring 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:33.720 and stable that even the ten year bond, which is 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.840 often the most traded bond in any market in the world, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.120 there were days when there was no trading on tenure bonds. 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:45.600 That's how boring and tempered it was, and stable and stable. 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.480 But no longer we know that the epicenter is Japan 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:53.880 of this risk because the boj is pairing back its 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.840 purchases of bonds at the same time, you've got the 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.360 life insurance in Japan some of the do you get 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.200 in the world. From what we're hearing in markets, they're 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.640 not buying as much as they did because they're waiting. 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:08.720 They're waiting for rates to go up higher, for bond 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:11.280 us to go up higher before they come in to buy. 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:16.760 And so there is that soul searching across every trader 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:18.480 out there in the world. It doesn't matter if you're 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:23.280 in credit, stocks, bonds, currency, if you no longer have 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.000 that backstop, what do you do now? 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.480 How did this melt down impact the biggest stakeholders in 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.840 Japan's bond market? You know, who are the winners and 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:33.600 losers of what's happening so far? 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:40.440 The percentage of Japanese owners of japan government dat is very, 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.720 very high. It's over eighty percent. So if you're a 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.960 life insuran in Japan, for instance, and for years you've 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.520 hoovered up all these bonds and they're now paying you 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:53.080 a fraction in interest, you're sitting on a lot of losses. 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:56.200 But the beauty about these insurers is that they can 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.520 hold they don't have to day trade, so to speak. 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.640 There would have been money managers you know your traditional funds, 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:08.000 big funds, foreign funds who would have been playing in 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.079 the JGB market. A lot of them would have taken 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.040 a hit with the ferocity of the move. Some would 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:16.160 have made a lot of money as well. Hedge funds, 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.079 for instance, if they had seen the dislocation, they might 0:09:19.080 --> 0:09:22.480 have bought, for example, when yields just skyrocketed, because that 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.400 means bonds were so cheap, they would have gone this 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:26.760 is crazy, this is nuts. I've got a buck to 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:28.480 make here, and it would have bought it at the 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.240 top when it comes to the yeal spike, and even 0:09:31.280 --> 0:09:33.319 if they sold it today they would have made money. 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.120 Now, how is the government responding to the smeltdown so far? 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.400 Well, if I can be candid, there seems to be 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.880 a shout out to markets to just calm your socks down. 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.400 You know, we've seen the Finance minister come out to 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:53.880 say calm down, guys were watching you. On the bond side, 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.320 we saw the Bank of Japan Governor Kuzua Uerda actually 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:00.600 saying that their will moved calm bond. In other words, 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:04.560 they will buy if needed to come volatility because they 0:10:04.640 --> 0:10:07.200 know what's at stake here. It's no longer a Japan story, 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:08.040 It's a world story. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:10.920 And what about the reaction of governments around the world. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.600 It's been unprecedented to see, for instance, Scott percent coming 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:21.920 out to speak about volatility in Japan. It's definitely gotten 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:26.880 people worried. It is the topic of discussion across Asia, 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.640 New York London trading desks. How severe is this problem 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.160 that even the US side is now getting involved. And importantly, 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:39.679 remember when it comes to currencies, it's never one sided, 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.760 it's always two players at a game. It sounds a 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:47.679 very very strong signal about how you position even under dollar, 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:53.760 So it's no longer a Japan problem. 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:58.800 Earlier this month, Japan's Prime Minister of Sanaiatakiichi surprise markets 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:03.000 by calling a snap election and doubling down on plans 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:06.920 for a massive stimulus package. What that means for Japan, 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.080 a country in so much debt, and what's at stake 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:26.160 for everyone else that's after the break. Trust is the 0:11:26.160 --> 0:11:29.840 lifeblood of a bond market. When investors trust a government 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.080 and believe it can manage his debt responsibly, they lend 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.680 it money cheaply. But when that trust falters, the dynamics shift. 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.679 Investors start demanding higher rates of return, essentially more interest 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:45.800 to offset what they believe is a greater risk that 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:48.160 the country might not pay back its debt. 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.719 It's a vote of confidence in Japan essentially that they 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.160 are getting things very, very wrong on the policy side. 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:59.680 Still, Bloomberg's Ruth Carson says, for Japan, the bond market 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.240 crash last week wasn't just a financial event, It was 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:07.720 a crack in investors trust. The Japanese government has relied 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:11.480 heavily on borrowing for decades, trying to lift the country 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:15.000 out of its so called last decade of stagnation, but 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:19.920 markets have grown increasingly skeptical about Japan's ability to manage 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:20.880 its towering debt. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:26.000 Japan is the most indetonation on Earth in terms of 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:31.439 developed markets debt GDP over two hundred percent. The fiscal situation, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.560 if you ask any bon investor out there, was tenuous 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:36.680 to say the least. 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:40.800 And adding fuel to this fire is Japan's new Prime Minister, 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:42.320 Sanai Takichi. 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.600 Takaichi has came out to say, we want to stimulate 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.640 the economy. We want to make sure that growth continues. 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:51.560 You know, the lost decades are truly behind us. We 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:55.040 want to make sure that we target that, and her policies, 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:58.560 on top of everything else, are popular. Takaichi pledged to 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:01.800 cut eight percent ta IS on food and non alcoholic 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:03.160 beverages for two years. 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.880 That's roughly thirty two billion dollars in last tax revenue, 0:13:08.400 --> 0:13:10.920 or about six percent of what the country collects in 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.080 taxes annually. 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:17.240 The problem was she didn't clarify how she would pay 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:21.480 for it, and that ticked investors off. So what does 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.520 that mean? It means that the government is spending a 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:29.320 lot more at a time when inflation is already running 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:33.280 hot four years mind you above the J'S target. And 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:39.079 remember that bond investors don't like inflation because it eats 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.680 into their income what they received from the bonds in 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.079 this case jgb's. 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.120 It sounds like the fiscal situation in Japan has been 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.720 really rocky. Now you've got Takiji calling for a snap 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.600 election next month and the cut on food sales tax 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:57.600 proposal too. What's the thinking on why she's doing this? 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.720 So I think you need to unpack both on a 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:06.439 political front and the economic front. She's winning votes, her 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.080 popularity is high. People like it. They want more money 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.960 in their bank account. Cost of living is so high 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.199 you want to address that in your pocket and worry 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.440 about everything else later. The expectations are that she's actually 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:23.360 going to entrench power. If you're going to entrench power, 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.160 it's much harder to get rid of you. Even if 0:14:26.240 --> 0:14:30.600 markets are signaling they're not happy with your policies, You've 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.280 got people support, and ultimately you're the leader of your country, 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:34.600 not bond markets. 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:40.360 Global investors are closely watching, obviously how the Japanese bonds 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.600 and the moves there are going to spill over into 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:45.880 other markets. I wonder if you can just walk me 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.920 through how global markets are impacted by this. 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:55.120 Every time jgbs sell off, there's going to be waves 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:58.400 ripple the facts and then waves to other parts of 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.600 the world. Remember that bond markets dictate borrowing costs for 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.760 governments around the world through to even our own mortgages. 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:11.960 The impact can be astronomical. Beyond the bond market, borrowing 0:15:12.000 --> 0:15:21.120 costs obviously impact the balance sheets of corporates, bangs, miners, insurers, telecoms, 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:25.400 AI companies. They need to borrow, and these people will 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:29.200 be looking at their balances going goodness me, suddenly borrowing 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.160 costs are going up a lot higher. That means I 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.160 need to raise how much I will pay in yield, 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.200 how much I will pay an income as well to 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:41.040 entice people to buy my debt. So suddenly they have 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.520 to pay a lot more in interest too. So it 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.840 starts like a small seed in some aspects, even though 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.200 it's a seven trillion dollar market. But then it can 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.800 quickly go into a forest fire, very very quickly, and 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.080 happen over night too. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.680 But just because Japan's vulnerable to forest fire doesn't mean 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:04.560 it lacks the means to put out a blaze. The 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:08.400 country may owe a lot at home, but Japanese investors 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:12.280 like banks, pension funds, and insurers are sitting on a 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:16.840 massive pile of overseas assets over three point seven trillion 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:20.400 dollars at the end of twenty twenty four. That includes 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.920 a lot of American government bonds. 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.440 At what point do you, the Japanese some league, wake 0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:30.000 up and say, hold on, our markets are actually great. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.640 Y'lls have gone up enough now for us to just 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:36.560 sell our overseas assets and bring the money back home 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:40.440 and invest in our own assets. Japan is the biggest 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.880 holder of the US treasuries market from a foreign investors perspective, 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:45.640 with over a trillion, I think it's about one point 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.080 two trillion that they have. Imagine if they sold a 0:16:48.080 --> 0:16:49.920 fraction of that, and I'm not suggesting that they do, 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:53.040 but if a bit of that money came home, the 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:56.880 snapback would be incredible. The yen would strengthen like crazy. 0:16:57.480 --> 0:16:59.720 Jgbs would be in demand. 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.920 Now it's been roughly a week since all of this started. 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.960 Where are Japanese bonds yields? This week? 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:12.280 Things have calmed down a little bit. But if I 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:16.040 can use the analogy of running a race last week 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.720 was sprint. Everyone was running as fast as they could, 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:24.240 as hard as they could to either minimize losses or 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:27.479 make a profit. Yes, things have come down, but they 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:32.320 are still running, so it's not a job. People are 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:36.880 still on such tenter hooks as to what could happen next. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:40.880 They're ready with firepower if needed, whether to short Japanese 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.760 government bonds or to buy Japanese government bonds. They're listening 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:49.160 to the authorities. But the mood it's far from calm. 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:53.359 Everyone is still very much on edge. We still have 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:57.160 the February eighth election coming up. So if you want 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.639 to ask for a window as to when things can 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.160 sort of pick up again. Look anyway from tomorrow through 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:07.000 to the election. Take a pic, because all it takes 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:11.359 is a spock from just a matchstick. The Ambas are 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:11.840 still there. 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.879 This is The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanha. 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:30.400 To get more from The Big Take and unlimited access 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.520 to all of Bloomberg dot Com, subscribe today at Bloomberg 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.920 dot com slash podcast Offer. If you liked the episode, 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.520 make sure to subscribe and review The Big Take Asia 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.520 wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps people find 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.760 the show. Thanks for listening. To see you next time.