New Japan continues to lead market

Most Japanese value stocks look fundamentally unattractive, and despite restructuring announcements from the 'old Japan', a degree of caution is needed for long-term investors. This is because these announcements tend to focus on cutting labour costs to increase profitability. This can work in the short-term, but most produce products that have little pricing power within declining industries that are beset with over-competition. This is not to say that value investing in Japan is dead. Some value stocks offer long-term potential for earnings enhancement. However, after making extensive...