The new salvation religion being preached in Japan to a hardened and cynical bunch who’ve lived through one of the worst bubbles and busts in recent history is this: prodigious money-printing by the Bank of Japan would devalue the yen, among other things, causing exports to skyrocket and imports to shrink. The resulting trade surplus would save Japan. But the opposite is happening – and it’s happening fast! So there was a thimble of good news: exports jumped 12.2% in July from a year ago, the Ministry of Finance reported on Monday. Alas, they were valued in weakened yen. In terms of volume, exports rose only 1.8%. ... (full story)