The continuing crisis in Japan caused Japanese equities to fall sharply on Monday and stocks continued their slide on Tuesday. The largest exchange traded fund focused on Japan, the iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund (EWJ), fell 7% on Monday.
Toyota Motor (TM) has taken a nose dive amid a massive recall leading Japan related ETFs lower. Toyota has recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix a gas pedal problem.
After four consecutive quarters of declining GDP, Japan’s recession is over. The world’s second largest economy reported that Q2 GDP grew an annualized 3.7% on the strength of exports and government stimulus spending.
With Chrysler in bankruptcy and General Motors trading under $2 per share, the Obama administration ordered stricter fuel goals that will require the ailing industry to invest $47 billion that it doesn’t have.