Japanese stocks: stick with the bulls

The Japanese stock market has suffered the worst drop of all major markets so far this year. But there's no need to panic.

Japan bulls are suffering from a nasty New Year hangover. After jumping by over 50% last year the Nikkei 225 has fallen by over 10% in 2014, the worst drop of all major markets. But there's no need to panic.

The Nikkei's fall is caused by global jitters: when risk-aversion rises, investors head for the yen, which is widely deemed a safe haven. A stronger yen is bad for the exporters who dominate the stock market.

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Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.