Huge earthquake..Japan

[Nordic]

Yeah 82, I saw that one yesterday morning and put it on Facebook. It's mesmerizing and terrifying, something you might dream about for the rest of your life.

If that guy didn't have higher ground to climb to, we'd have never seen that video.

Makes me wonder, how many of the epic floods in the history of most cultures were the result of tsunamis?

[23]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/ ... PM20110314
Quake selloff wipes $287 billion off Tokyo stock market

(Reuters) - A massive selloff on the Tokyo Stock Exchange wiped out some 23.5 trillion yen ($287 billion) from the market's value on Monday with investors dumping stocks as the country recoiled from a devastating earthquake and struggled to avert nuclear disaster.

The selloff triggered record volumes and slashed the market's value to roughly 289 trillion yen.

The Nikkei average tumbled 6.2 percent, its biggest decline in a single day since October 2008, and more than 4.88 billion shares changed hands on the exchange's first section, the highest number since World War 2.

Volume was pushed up by window-dressing selling by domestic institutional investors for the March 31 financial year-end and by domestic investment trusts and anxious retail buyers, while long-term foreign players who have piled into Japanese shares since November also rushed for the exit, market players said.

"It's the end of the business year for Japanese institutions. They've been net sellers of Tokyo stocks anyway, and in March they traditionally lock in profits for the year, so much of today's selling pressure likely came from them," said Mitsuhsige Akino, a fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

"On the other hand, foreigners had bought over 2.75 trillion yen worth of Japan stocks since November, pushing the Nikkei several percent higher, so no wonder they tried to trim their losses or lock in as much profit as possible today, and that bolstered trading volume" said Akino.

Fears of more quake aftershocks and further repercussions from damaged nuclear reactors were cited as the most important factors behind the sell-off.

"Domestic investment trusts and funds are dumping everything today. Sell orders for tens of billions of yen were detected," said an equities trader at a Japanese domestic institutional investor, who declined to be quoted by name.

Individual investors, who often trade in smaller stocks on the TSE's Mothers section for startups, likely sold even more aggressively then the big players on the Nikkei, traders said.

The Mothers market tumbled 17.2 percent, with social networking site Mixi Inc. and Japan's third-biggest airline Skymark Airlines Inc both down around 18 percent. ($1 = 81.915 Yen)

[justdrew]

WhyTF didn't they suspend trading for a week?

[82_28]

WhyTF didn't they suspend trading for a week?

Super fucking good question! Give these corporations a chance to assess damage and "honestly" return this information to the all important investor. But nope. Good question. . .

[barracuda]

There's probably a fairly good reason to keep the market open, in that Japanese investors need access to their money in a particularly urgent way right now, and closing the exchange would essentially cut off those funds.

[82_28]

I agree with the layman's understanding of the markets as far as keeping them open. But why can't a real catastrophe, I mean a real one, get bailed out too? You know, American style. Keeping the markets open so they so-called "work" the way they're supposed to so Japan has access to funds, is great and all. But why not close them down until infrastructure assessments can be made, magnitude comprehension sinks in so thus "smart investments" can be made? It's a total cliche anymore, but this is truly going to be an example of Disaster Capitalism if there ever was one.

And again I ask the great howling sky above, just what is this money, what are these funds, what is wealth? None of this shit matters in an ongoing, growing catastrophe. You can't go bowling anymore if they tear down the bowling alley. It doesn't mean the great unwashed aren't going to have a hankering to go bowling once in awhile. What do they do instead? They wait for orders is what they do. We wait to see what the "markets" are going to do. We wait to see what hidden force shall profit off of taking away your bowling alley due to "market forces". Still didn't make the fact the bowling alley was a place you liked to hang out. They decide, not us. The markets are immaterial in and of the survival and basic quality of life of the great Japanese people. But markets as of now come first. Profit need be extracted.

What is this profit? In what form does it take? That question has been driving me somewhat nuts the last couple of weeks. One hopes that this is a great existential proving ground for all of this bilge we've been force fed that the market determines everything and can do no wrong.

[justdrew]

There's probably a fairly good reason to keep the market open, in that Japanese investors need access to their money in a particularly urgent way right now, and closing the exchange would essentially cut off those funds.

ehh, maybe, that's probably the stated reason, but they could instead have ordered the banks to make cheap lines of credit available.

[barracuda]

@82_28: The dollar fell sharply against the yen as a result of this event. What does that say to you?

[alwyn]

@82_28: The dollar fell sharply against the yen as a result of this event. What does that say to you?

there used to be a saying amongst middle management working for one of the large corporations....

"BOHICA!"......


Bend Over Here It Comes Again!

[82_28]

@82_28: The dollar fell sharply against the yen as a result of this event. What does that say to you?

Not a lot. The dollar's been dropping and rising for as long as I've been alive. A pack of smokes, probably the last thing even made in this country, still costs $8.50. I still ask, what good are these markets? My dad's 401k is decimated. My mom and stepdad have declared bankruptcy and have hella medical bills. What good is any of it? I can't go bowling. And 100,000 Japanese people are dead with an entire infrastructure broken. Yet, the markets stay open. For what? American corporate entities got trillions or a trillion (however you want to phrase it) for "small mistakes" and irrational exuberance all of us saw coming ten years ago without knowing shit. The markets didn't create the bailout -- they got the bailout because the market was broken. Now we have an entire country, third largest economy on Earth that is broken literally, with more to come and the markets still come first. If you can dip your hand in the cookie jar for "unforeseeable" market events whose bailout was completely unwarranted, why can't a trill be spent on a people's country? Honestly, I care if I have some dollars in my pocket and that I can buy food. I don't give a shit about the rest. I have no money to travel or invest so what the dollar does to me really doesn't matter other than the basics of life. I know all kinds of currency indicators are important to watch and I read they guys I trust. I still don't pretend to understand any of it. I just know that basics are needed and "their" built-in ineffable complexity needs to go away for awhile.

[justdrew]

@82_28: The dollar fell sharply against the yen as a result of this event. What does that say to you?

did the dollar drop or the yen rise? Japan doesn't want a risen yen IIRC

[barracuda]

It seems pretty clear that Japanese investors unloaded dollars and Treasuries to purchase yen.

[23]

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/15_60.html
Powerful quake hits Shizuoka

A powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted central Japan on Tuesday night.

The Japan Meteorological Agency says the quake with an intensity of 6 plus on the Japanese seismic scale zero to 7 hit at 10:31 PM.

The focus of the quake is in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture and is estimated to be at a depth of 10 kilometers.

I'm also reading that another fault line system is now acting up.

[anothershamus]

@82_28: The dollar fell sharply against the yen as a result of this event. What does that say to you?

did the dollar drop or the yen rise? Japan doesn't want a risen yen IIRC

It seems pretty clear that Japanese investors unloaded dollars and Treasuries to purchase yen.

With a market moving that fast there are lots of margin calls and people trying to lock in earnings so that drives all the markets down. Once the dust settles, things will level out to the new 'adjusted' levels, whatever they are. ONE GIANT CORRECTION! Crazy shit. This could punch the dollar below the 76 it's been hovering around for the last week because of selling, and not re-buying, dollars. Japan won't be buying any foreign currency for a while and they were one of our biggest supporters. Now it's left to China to support the dollar, nobody else left.

[Canadian_watcher]

Not a lot. The dollar's been dropping and rising for as long as I've been alive. A pack of smokes, probably the last thing even made in this country, still costs $8.50. I still ask, what good are these markets? My dad's 401k is decimated. My mom and stepdad have declared bankruptcy and have hella medical bills. What good is any of it? I can't go bowling. And 100,000 Japanese people are dead with an entire infrastructure broken. Yet, the markets stay open. For what? American corporate entities got trillions or a trillion (however you want to phrase it) for "small mistakes" and irrational exuberance all of us saw coming ten years ago without knowing shit. The markets didn't create the bailout -- they got the bailout because the market was broken. Now we have an entire country, third largest economy on Earth that is broken literally, with more to come and the markets still come first. If you can dip your hand in the cookie jar for "unforeseeable" market events whose bailout was completely unwarranted, why can't a trill be spent on a people's country? Honestly, I care if I have some dollars in my pocket and that I can buy food. I don't give a shit about the rest. I have no money to travel or invest so what the dollar does to me really doesn't matter other than the basics of life. I know all kinds of currency indicators are important to watch and I read they guys I trust. I still don't pretend to understand any of it. I just know that basics are needed and "their" built-in ineffable complexity needs to go away for awhile.

82.. I really like this.