{"id":58553,"date":"2026-02-15T20:38:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:38:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/japan-returns-to-growth-as-cooler-us-inflation-lifts-asian-markets\/58553\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T20:38:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T00:38:25","slug":"japan-returns-to-growth-as-cooler-us-inflation-lifts-asian-markets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/japan-returns-to-growth-as-cooler-us-inflation-lifts-asian-markets\/58553\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Returns to Growth as Cooler US Inflation Lifts Asian Markets"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Japan\u2019s economy returned to growth in Q4 2025 with a 0.1% Q\/Q expansion (0.2% annualized), missing the 1.6% annualized growth forecast but reversing a sharp 2.3% contraction.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Cooler-than-expected US CPI data from last Friday boosted global risk sentiment, easing pressure on the <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/indices\/sp500\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"snp500 today\">S&amp;P 500<\/a> and lifting the Nikkei 225 by 0.4%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) (<a href=\"\/stock\/9501\">9501<\/a>) successfully transmitted power from a nuclear plant for the first time in over 14 years, marking a major energy milestone.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Olympus (<a href=\"\/stock\/7733\">7733<\/a>) shares plummeted 12% in Tokyo trading, while Nitori Holdings (<a href=\"\/stock\/9843\">9843<\/a>) surged 9.5% following a strong quarterly performance.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Japanese Government Bond (JGB) yields retreated following the GDP miss, with the 10-year yield falling 1.5 basis points to 2.195%.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Japan\u2019s Economic Recovery and Monetary Policy<\/h2>\n<p>Japan\u2019s economy eked out a return to growth in the final quarter of 2025, providing the <strong>Bank of Japan (BOJ)<\/strong> with potential room to continue its interest rate normalization. <strong>Preliminary Q4 GDP rose 0.1% Q\/Q<\/strong>, falling short of the <strong>0.4% estimate<\/strong>, while the <strong>annualized growth of 0.2%<\/strong> significantly trailed the <strong>1.6%<\/strong> projected by economists. Despite the miss, the data represents a critical stabilization after a deep <strong>2.3% contraction<\/strong> in the previous quarter.<\/p>\n<p>Internal data showed that <strong>private consumption grew by 0.1%<\/strong>, matching estimates, while <strong>business spending<\/strong> saw a modest <strong>0.2% increase<\/strong>, missing the <strong>0.6%<\/strong> forecast. The <strong>GDP Deflator<\/strong>, a broad measure of inflation, came in higher than expected at <strong>3.4% Y\/Y<\/strong>, suggesting that <em>underlying price pressures remain sticky<\/em> despite the sluggish pace of real economic expansion.<\/p>\n<h2>Market Reaction and Currency Trends<\/h2>\n<p>Asian equity markets began the week with mild gains, supported by <em>softer-than-expected US CPI data<\/em> that has bolstered expectations for <strong>Federal Reserve<\/strong> rate cuts. The <strong>Nikkei 225 (<a href=\"\/stock\/%5EN225\">^N225<\/a>)<\/strong> climbed <strong>0.4%<\/strong>, while the <strong>ASX 200 (<a href=\"\/stock\/%5EAXJO\">^AXJO<\/a>)<\/strong> in Australia added <strong>0.1%<\/strong>. Trading volumes remained somewhat thinned due to mass holiday closures across the region.<\/p>\n<p>In the currency markets, the <strong>USD\/JPY<\/strong> pair gained <strong>0.24%<\/strong> to trade at <strong>153.04<\/strong>. The slight strengthening of the Dollar comes as investors weigh Japan&#39;s fragile growth against the potential for a <em>narrowing interest rate differential<\/em> if the Fed pivots later this year. Meanwhile, <strong>JGB yields<\/strong> trended lower, with the <strong>5-year yield declining 2 bps to 1.660%<\/strong> and the <strong>10-year yield hitting 2.195%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Corporate Highlights and Energy Milestones<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Olympus (<a href=\"\/stock\/7733\">7733<\/a>)<\/strong> was the session&#39;s notable laggard, with its stock sliding <strong>12%<\/strong> following recent updates. Conversely, <strong>Nitori Holdings (<a href=\"\/stock\/9843\">9843<\/a>)<\/strong> saw a massive <strong>9.5% surge<\/strong>, and <strong>Dentsu Group (<a href=\"\/stock\/4324\">4324<\/a>)<\/strong> rose <strong>3%<\/strong>. In the energy sector, <strong>Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) (<a href=\"\/stock\/9501\">9501<\/a>)<\/strong> shares were in focus as the utility transmitted power from a nuclear facility for the first time since the 2011 disaster.<\/p>\n<p>In North America, <strong>Fitch Ratings<\/strong> maintained its ratings on <strong>six chemicals companies<\/strong>, indicating a period of <em>relative credit stability<\/em> for the sector. European markets also signaled a positive start, with <strong>DAX futures<\/strong> rising <strong>0.2%<\/strong> as investors look toward the opening of major Western exchanges.<\/p>\n<h2>Global Geopolitical and Economic Developments<\/h2>\n<p>In the United Kingdom, the housing market showed signs of cooling as <strong>Rightmove House Prices<\/strong> remained flat (<strong>0.0% M\/M<\/strong>) in February. This marks a significant deceleration from the <strong>2.8%<\/strong> increase recorded in the previous month, bringing the year-over-year growth rate to <strong>0.0%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On the geopolitical front, Israeli Prime Minister <strong>Netanyahu<\/strong> has reportedly outlined &quot;red lines&quot; ahead of upcoming <strong>U.S.\u2013Iran nuclear talks<\/strong> scheduled in Geneva. These developments are being closely monitored by energy traders for potential impacts on <em>global oil supply and regional stability<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Japan\u2019s economy returned to growth in Q4 2025 with a 0.1% Q\/Q expansion (0.2% annualized), missing the 1.6% [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[4025,5078,5112,5139,8883,13332,14340,17179,17180],"class_list":["post-58553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-boj","tag-usd-jpy","tag-jgb","tag-nikkei-225","tag-japan-gdp","tag-us-cpi","tag-tepco","tag-olympus","tag-nitori"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}