Last week Japan’s core machinery orders jumped 14.8% from October. This climb was much higher than predicted, suggesting companies spent more capital yielding to the market demand following last year’s earthquake. Meantime, Tertiary Industry Activity went down more than predicted dropping 0.8% in November after 0.7% gain in the prior month. Let’s find out what’s in store for us this week.

Last week Japan’s central bank released its monetary policy statement announcing the continuation of the current easy monetary policy in light of the growing concerns over European debt problems and the strong yen. The BOJ decided to leave its key interest rate near zero and continue to provide liquidity to the markets through government bonds. Will the Japanese economy improve in 2012?

Last week preliminary GDP grew by 1.5%, in line with predictions, after three quarters of decline. The major improvement was thanks to the rapid mending of production capacity after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The Overnight call rate and monetary policy statement were also announces last week but no major changes were made by  the BOJ members. Let’s see what this week will bring.

In the US, Unemployment Claims, weekly report to value the unemployment that filed for insurance, is about to rise by 1K up to 404K this week.

Last week signs of a slowdown were seen in the Japanese economy with All industries activity index dropping by 0.5% more than the 0.2% decline anticipated and Revised industrial production index gained 0.6% less than the 0.8% predicted. Will this trend continue?

Last week a Big sigh of relief in Japan following Bernanke’ announcement of “Operation Twist” resulting in USD/JPY rises taming the high yen problem which threatens Japanese exports. Will this move help to further control the yen?

Last week, Japan’s economy continued to improve contracting less than predicted in the second quarter. Gross domestic product shrank by 0.3% amid recovery in manufacturing and exports. Analysts expected GDP to contract by 0.6%. Is expansion right around the corner?

Last week the adjusted trade balance showed a deficit of 191.2 billion yen in June much better than the 250.4 billion predicted by analysts and the 450 billion deficits in May. Exports dropped 1.6% on a yearly base a lot better than the 4.1% decrease predicted and the 10.3% plunge in the prior month. This is a big step forward for the Japanese economy and a firm indication of real recovery.  Will this positive shift continue?

Last week trade balance figures provided another reassuring sign for the overall improvement in Japan’s economy by maintaining the gap between imports and exports at- 0.47T yen contrasting expectations of a bigger gap of -0.54T. Will this upward trend continue?

The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady without offering near-term monetary easing is hope Japan’s economy would recover around autumn. Bank officials claim that although Japan suffers enormous damages following the earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear crises production is progressing in a steady pace to supply overseas  growing demand bringing optimism is these hard times.