Good news for us is good news for the world's biggest little island:
The Tokyo stock market's key Nikkei average surged more than three percent on Monday to its highest since July 2002 as signs of global economic recovery sparked buying of a wide range of issues, including top brokerage Nomura Holdings Inc 8604.T.Fuelling the buying spree was a report showing strong growth in manufacturing in the U.S. Midwest, which sent the U.S. Nasdaq .IXIC to a 2003 closing high on Friday and reassured investors that an upswing in Japan's top trading parter is under way.
...The Nikkei has rallied 13 percent in the past three weeks thanks to surprisingly strong Japanese growth data for the April-June quarter issued on August 12 and data released last week showing a bigger-than-expected rise in industrial output in July.
It looks as though all those headlines of markets buckling worldwide we heard some months ago were overstated - when not downright wrong. If an impending economic boom can eventually pull Japan out of its decade-long slump, we're in for some bountiful times ahead.