Masayoshi Okamoto Quotations

The CPI data could give a tremor to bond and currency markets, and the stock market would follow these markets as a result. The most influential factor would be the direction of the yen.

When the market climbs this high, profit-taking is completely natural,

O'Neill can significantly move the yen in either direction with one small sentence,

Gains for U.S. stocks should give us a solid floor today, but we'll see sparse participation from institutional investors wishing to evaluate the outlook for the tech sector,

There is a global realignment trend in the steel industry ... it's a matter of how you look at Nippon Steel, the world's third-largest steel maker.

Look for retail investors and brokerage dealers to pinpoint individual shares that are liquid and carry a theme.

We all know how dependent Japanese manufacturers are on the U.S. market. The jobs data is a blow to already-weak sentiment,

Early morning trade looks weak on Wall Street's falls, but we will soon reach a point today where it won't make sense to sell techs lower.

A fall in U.S. stocks will likely pour cold water on Japanese shares.

After going through volatility in recent trade, not many investors would like to hold their positions through the three-day weekend. And when they square positions, most of them are short following Tokyo's recent downtrend.

The momentum is here. I think the Nikkei will likely test yesterday's high of around 16,700 again today.

The yen is boosting some of the techs and autos, but the size of that boost is clearly disappointing.

There's a lot of brand-new buying energy out there.

It's just like the Bank of Japan is (considering) lifting its zero-interest rate policy. It's not that the TSE will forcibly implement tighter rules.

It was clear that the downside was solid because falls were relatively limited despite the jump of more than 200 points yesterday.

Foreign selling seems to be behind sharp losses in some stocks like Matsushita. It's no secret they want to lock in profits in Japanese shares after being severely hurt in steep falls in U.S. shares.

Foreign investors probably have a full stomach after they swallowed a whole range of Japanese stocks.

Domestic institutions were looking for reasons to unwind a good slice of their long positions in the tech sector. The yen and the Nasdaq gave them two very good ones.

Concerns that direction could be a firming of the yen has investors a bit wary of holding export-oriented shares.

Stocks with higher dividends keep luring investors ahead of the fiscal year end.

In hindsight, yesterday's sell-off was a bit overdone.

If Japan were hit with fresh cases of suspicious mail, that would put an additional burden on the market.

Investors are betting some sort of policy response (to tackle deflation and banks' bad loans) will emerge as early as today or as late as tomorrow,

High-tech gains are sort of a given. But if bank shares continue to struggle after Monday's dismal losses, that could put a damper on the broader market.

This is no longer just short-covering, fresh money seems to be coming in.

The market will highly likely keep the 16,500 level.