The Japanese economy and stock market are slowly on the mend. Japan's government reported Thursday that gross domestic product shrunk at an annualized rate of 0.7% in the fourth quarter, a revision from the 2.3% contraction that was originally reported.
While that's obviously still not fantastic news, there are increased hopes that rebuilding efforts in Japan will lead to economic expansion again in the first half of this year. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 (N225) index, meanwhile, has rebounded sharply from post-disaster lows. The Nikkei is up 20% from its 52-week low in November.
But the Nikkei is still about 6% below the level it was at on March 10, 2011. By way of comparison, the S&P 500 (SPX) is up 5% during the same time frame. (CNN)
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