My thoughts on this thread....

1) Euro and Dollar are gaining vs the Yen because there is a lot of sudden optimism in the Fiscal Cliff and Spain's relinquishing of sovereignty to the Eurobank. Japanese quantative easing has yet to happen, and it will be interesting to see what happens, and how markets will take a government takeover of a central bank.

I would expect bad things of Japan's megaprinting strategy... but quite honestly I kind of hope Abe gets his way, because I know that if he doesn't, the US has a high chance of being the first to try that strategy. (And already is on a smaller scale.)

2) I would be totally bearish on Nintendo and Sony now, though not due to currency concerns so much as fundamental problems in their businesses. Sony's being pretty well covered as it's primary businesses being a mess due to a shifting global market but not shifting enough local market. And Nintendo, it, just isn't going to be the glory days of the Wii.

3) If you do plan to buy Sony.... don't plan to cash out quick for some money. It's more of a "long haul" investment.

@kowen about the 60mil scenario.
Ah i see, thank you. I'll try not to say things like that in the future. I'm sure we could calculate the actual number by looking at total sales and revenue breakdown by region which i believe is included in their financials.
Making 50m euro per yen would mean that they sell 5b in product to Europe...how close is that to the truth, do you think?
I know last quarter was 1.9 trillion yen, which would be a total revenue of (assuming 20% europe, and 20% usa) 3 point something billion. hmmm the numbers make sense to me, actually.

Also, about the stock, I'm not sure I understand. I don't do much investing so you must forgive me, but the way I'm seeing it, the exchange rate becoming more favorable should put a lot more money in Sony's coffers, should it not? Isn't the primary measure of the stock exchange based on growth? If they are making more money, shouldn't the market be reacting? I can see how I could he wrong based on the fact that they aren't reacting, but I was under the impression that it simply wasn't being paid attention to, relative to the exchange rate.

Seems the Yen is losing one full yen per day against the Euro and Dollar which is crazy. The yen needs to be weak for an extended period of time for companies to get the full benefit, but it seems that there is a shift towards that.

also, euro is up ANOTHER full point, just about, today.
This is madness. sony and nintendo must be jumping for joy.

@trainwreck
ive been following it almost everyday for the last year. after easing, it would gain , then drop a little, then gain a lot, then drop a little, and on and on. Then it started trending back downwards on fears of a euro crisis and more american confusion. The activity we're seeing is unbelievable. Euro is soaring.

kind of, i mean the 2 are directly related to each other.  People are selling Yen and dollar and buying Euros, pounds, australian and NZ dollars.

Well there was a fakeout rally this past spring for the Yen (in terms of weakness) but that didnt last as it came back down to 75USD/94EUR over the summe.  This move seems to be real as there is now a conserted effort on Japan part to weaken its currency no matter what.  With improving numbers for housing in the US, possible fiscal cliff neogatations, and Europe looking more firm on Greece, that strong yen trade is finally coming to an end.

@kowen
see, i agree and understand that, but it feels like they are making a lot of good moves lately. They are focusing more on content, cut tons of staff, are using currently held properties tk make new technologies instead of inventing new products, have taken pay cuts, are moving away from the low margin products, and areshifting production areas to currently global-oriented smart areas, like brazil for instance.
I mean, just as of the last quarters theyve been cutting a lot of waste and all thats been keeping them back, at least according to them, is this incredibly week exchange rate.

@train wreck
it's actually the opposite. Early this year was a round of easing...which is what set the exchange rates off, but then the euro and us crises impeded any gains so it went back down. This most recent action has been a result of euro and dollar markets genuinely strengthening, no exchange rate actions have been taken yet. Abe was only just elected and none of his measures have been passed yet.

ie; the rally is happening now, and the policies were happening then, not the other way around.

Correct, the market didnt believe that the japanese intervention from earlier in the year would stick or would have any lasting effect so there would be a big pop the day of announce easing, then the yen would strengthen again.  But I am with you on this rally being real.  The Yen has been gaining strenght aganist the dollar for the past 10 years and the last 4ish for the Euro so its good to see Japanese exporters finally get some break.