The past few weeks of trading brought definitely some questions about the reality of a bear market reality. The market is back to level seen last November and many investors are worried the market could test its lows. I have studied recently the valuation...

The market was not my friend last week. Investors turned defensive as more bad news arrived on the market. Companies continue to reduce their workforce and the fear of being laid off is spreading everywhere. Economic indicators in the US as well as Japan...

We are back in the danger zone with the Nikkei down another 5,9% on the week at 7745, largely below the 8000 level many chartists believed to be a strong support zone. Uncertainty about the near future and lack of transparency from financial institutions...

Is there a safe heaven machinery stock in Japan? The sky is not getting any brighter these days for Japanese machinery companies. The collapse of the world economy has been so rapid that machinery companies are struggling to keep their inventories from...

While I am watching the inauguration of Barack Obama as new President of the United States, the market stumbles again. The 8000 level on the Dow Jones is under attack and there is no sign anyone is going to stop sellers this time. Banks are the one being...

Good morning, Yesterday as everyone here in the US was so excited to watch the inauguration of the new President Barack Obama, some people at the New York Stock Exchange took the opportunity to bring some more fears in the market. Of course, I am not...

Last week was very interesting and hopefully it will continue to be that way this coming week. The Nikkei225 dropped almost 7% like I indicated in my Weekly Market Report 2 . My portfolio still outperformed the benchmark (-6,5% vs. -6,9%) despite being...

What a difference a week makes. Last week, I welcomed the sector rotation and what seemed to be a will by investors to invest in more cyclical and risky stocks but now a question remains: Is the market ready for another horrible year or is this just a...

Today I decided to talk about implied volatility and more particularly the VIX (Volatility Index). The first few days of trading in Japan have been very volatile and many stocks have had weekly move of more than 15-20% range. That volatility is best explained...

Asahi Breweries is Japan’s top-selling beermaker ahead of Kirin Breweries and much of Asahi's success comes from flagship brand Super Dry. It is what we call a defensive stock because it has recurrent cash flows that do not fluctuate much year over year....