“Rice supplies in Japan still low, with prices almost doubled since year ago.” – Headline, Asia News Network.
Always attuned to market conditions on the ground, we heard from friends in Tokyo last week that, incredibly, grocery stores were out of rice. The impact of hot, wet weather and dealers hoarding product has sent rice prices soaring and supplies dwindling. A five-kilogram bag now costs ¥4,000, or about $28. In the US, a container twice as large goes for $10.99 at Stop & Shop. The Japanese government promised to release stockpiles of rice shortly to ease shortages.
Rice is not Japan’s only pain point these days. The yen depreciated 50% against the USD over the past four years in concert with the Fed’s rate hike to fight inflation...
“We’ll carefully watch super-long yield developments and their impact on the economy.” – Kazuo Ueda, Governor of the Bank of Japan.
Featuring Charts
Chart of the Week: Rising Sun
Japan’s long-dated bond yields have moved up sharply so far in 2025. Source: The Daily Shot
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Chart of the Week: Premium Yields
Spreads for middle market CLOs are distributed higher than their BSL counterparts. Source: S&P Global Ratings
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Chart of the Week: Collateralized Loan Observations
Since the Fed began its rate hike regime in March 2022, MM CLO activity has grown. Source: PitchBook
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Chart of the Week: Poised for a Rebound?
Since the early 1800’s, tariff’s share of US government revenues has shrunk dramatically. Source: The Cato Institute
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Chart of the Week: What is a Tariff, Anyway?
Google searches for “tariff” hit a peak around Liberation Day but have trailed off since. Source: Google Trends
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Chart of the Week: Down Decade
Malaysia’s investment growth lags other ASEAN countries but shows signs of recovery. Source: Department of Statistics, Malaysia. Haver and respective national authorities
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Bloomberg: Leveraged Lending Insights – 6/2/2025
US Leveraged Loans Post Largest Monthly Return Since 2023 Click here to access Bloomberg’s US Leveraged Loan Index Report After a brief pause in its long-running rally, the Bloomberg US Leveraged Loan Index (Ticker: LOAN) advanced 1.53% in May, bringing its YTD return to 1.95%. The gain follows back-to-back losses in March (-0.29%) and April…
The Pulse of Private Equity – 6/2/2025
Share of private debt capital raised by type Download PitchBook’s Report here. In Q1 2025, the distressed debt substrategy secured $21.4 billion in commitments, largely thanks to the $16 billion fund raised by Oaktree Capital Management, putting distressed debt in line to easily surpass its five-year annual average of $28.5 billion…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
Middle Market & Private Credit – 6/2/2025
Private Credit’s Growing Complexity Untested Through Market Cycles Click here to download report. Private credit (PC) markets remain resilient, despite recent challenges stemming from tariff-driven market volatility, slowing economic growth and a higher policy rate trajectory than initially anticipated at the beginning of the year…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
Leveraged Loan Insight & Analysis – 6/2/2025
Daily Analytic: First-lien share of BDC portfolios continues to climb The first-lien share of BDC portfolios continues to edge higher, climbing to 86.4% in 1Q25, up 4 percentage points from a year earlier and 8 percentage points two years ago…. Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here...
PDI Picks – 6/2/2025
The growing importance of geopolitics Given the high-profile and disturbing nature of tensions between certain countries, geopolitics weighs heavily on investors’ minds today. While the Ukraine-Russia war continues to rage, private markets investors are just as worried – in fact slightly more so – about simmering tensions between the US and China…. Subscribe to Read
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Beginning in July 2022 The Lead Left published a series of articles on credit market. This report consolidates those articles.
Cov-lite trends Inflation & rising interest rates – LIBOR to SOFR transition Mega-tranche uni trend ESG takes center stage Login to view interactive report and download PDF version. … Subscribe to Read MoreAlready a member? Log in here Related posts: 2H 2021 Midyear Outlook Report State of the Capital Markets – Fourth Quarter 2016 Review and
Beginning in September 2021 The Lead Left published a series of articles on supply chain. This report consolidates those articles.
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