Starting with the Nikkei average rising by 245 yen, semiconductor-related matters rose all at once, and popularity accelerated again in response to NVIDIA's good financial results

Top news
Elimination of deflation, changes in indicators of emphasis? The judgment is emphasized as “comprehensively”
There are four economic indicators that the government has explained that it places importance on in deciding to overcome deflation. Even if everything is not necessarily positive, the government may regard it as a break away. In the mini white paper on the economy recently compiled by the Cabinet Office, there was an expression that could be accepted as such. Those four indicate ① consumer prices ② GDP deflator, which is the inflation rate as seen in gross domestic product (GDP) ③ supply-demand gap representing the difference between supply and demand in the Japanese economy ④ “unit labor cost,” which indicates wages necessary for a company to provide a fixed amount of goods or services.
RELATED ARTICLES
Economic judgment revised downward, private consumption cut for the first time in 2 years = February monthly economic report

Are individuals holding the key to higher Japanese stocks changing the purpose of “contrarian” - changes at the end of January
According to data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, individual investors oversold Japanese stocks by 1 trillion yen or more in January 2, when the market price skyrocketed, and the oversales amount reached the scale since 2013. After that, they were overbought for 3 consecutive weeks from late January to February 1. What is interesting is that out of the 3 weeks that were overbought, the market price rose for 2 weeks. There may have been a change in the aggressive attitude that individual investors who sell at the rising market and buy at the falling market have been thorough. Even if you look at the past 2 years, it is unusual for the TSE stock price index (TOPIX) to be overbought at 90% out of 44 weeks when it fell, while the week it rose was oversold at 88%, and it is unusual for them to continue buying at a rising market.

Japanese company acquisitions by overseas companies and MBO investment bank executives to expand the M&A market
Japan's M&A (mergers and acquisitions) market is likely to increase in both the amount of money and the number of projects this year. In addition to privatization, including MBO (takeover by management), and large-scale acquisitions of overseas companies, it is expected that there will be an increase in Japanese company acquisitions by foreign companies.

60% of companies raised wages, average 4.16%, impetus for Bank of Japan normalization - Imperial Data
The Teikoku Databank announced survey results on the 21st showing that companies planning wage improvements in 2024 have risen to 60%, and the wage increase rate is an average of 4.16%, which is much higher than the previous fiscal year. Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuo expressed the idea of judging the normalization of monetary policy, such as the cancellation of negative interest rates, by carefully analyzing various data and information, such as the spring battle, to determine whether the virtuous cycle of wages and prices will intensify in response to the Diet on the 16th. The current survey, which showed that wage increases are spreading even in small and medium-sized enterprises, seems to be a tailwind for normalization.
RELATED ARTICLES
Honda responds in full to wage increase requests and it is necessary to spread to small to medium

Global market for collaborative robots, 3 trillion yen in 2033
On the 22nd, Nikkei BP compiled a forecast that the global market for “collaborative robots” that operate in cooperation with humans will grow steadily from 126.9 billion yen in 2021 and reach 2,972.7 billion yen in '33. In addition to the manufacturing industry, we see collaborative robots as a growth field where demand will expand in the logistics industry, medical fields, etc. in the future. What is driving the market expansion of collaborative robots is the application of artificial intelligence (AI), starting with large-scale language models.

Everything related to semiconductor manufacturing equipment, starting with Ad Test, increased all at once, and popularity accelerated again in response to good financial results from NVIDIA
$Advantest (6857.JP)$、 $Disco (6146.JP)$Starting with the main brands of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, there is a sign that they are starting rapidly and shopping is becoming popular across the board. <NVDA>In the November-January financial results of NVIDIA, a major US image processing semiconductor company, which attracted attention, sales surged 3.7 times compared to the same period last year, and greatly exceeded advance forecasts. Also, since the forecast for the February-April period exceeded market consensus, the company's stock price was bought significantly higher outside of hours. In response to this, in addition to Ad Test, which is a GPU tester and has a strong business relationship with NVIDIA, purchases are also concentrated on disco, etc. where business opportunities are expected to expand with precision processing equipment. $Tokyo Electron (8035.JP)$、 $Lasertec (6920.JP)$、 $Screen Holdings (7735.JP)$etc. are also being bought at a high price all at once.

Sony Group - rebound for the first time in 7 days, it is reported that the US Disney DVD sales business was transferred to the company
$Sony Group (6758.JP)$rebounded for the first time in 7 days. Bloomberg News Agency reported on the 21st that US Walt Disney has agreed to transfer most of the DVD and Blu-ray sales business in the US and Canada to the company. Disney is withdrawing from the disc sales business, which has fallen dramatically in the past few years.

ITOCHU does not involve founder in Big Motor acquisition
$ITOCHU (8001.JP)$It became known on the 21st that the group and corporate revitalization fund J-Will Partners (JWP) have begun final adjustments in the direction of acquiring used car sales giant Big Motor (Tama City, Tokyo). The Big Motor company was split and most of the used car business was taken over by the new company.

SoftBank Chairman Miyauchi retires and develops telecommunications business with Mr. Son
$SoftBank Group (9984.JP)$Major telecommunications companies under its umbrella $SoftBank (9434.JP)$It was announced on the 21st that Chairman Miyauchi Ken (74) will retire on 4/1. He became a special advisor to the director, and the director also retired at the regular general meeting of shareholders in June. Mr. Miyauchi made efforts to grow the domestic telecommunications business with SBG Chairman and President Masayoshi Son (66).

Honda becomes giant tech, target fuel cell data center power supply
$Honda Motor (7267.JP)$will supply fuel cells to data centers (DC) in North America. We aim to halve mass production costs by expanding the applications of core components for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) that run on hydrogen. DC is rapidly increasing due to the spread of generative AI (artificial intelligence). Sales will also begin in 2025 as a decarbonized emergency power source to giant technology companies, etc., leading to price competitiveness of FCVs.