Japanese Equity Market Outflows Spike To 8 Year High

With The Fed is full "taper" mode and The ECB hinting, the world is left to rely on Kuroda to single-handedly buy-the-dip in stocks and maintain bond yields at the mandated level. With Japanese stocks fading in the last two weeks (as bond yields spike), it appears the ubiquitous "hand of god" has disappeared...

And judging by the biggest Japanese equity fund outflows in 8 years, the fear is spreading...

As Bloomberg notes, it appears a single institutional investor likely triggered the largest outflow from the iShares MSCI Japan exchange-traded fund, ticker EWJ, since the depths of the financial crisis.

The benchmark $16.5 billion ETF, which has notched a 9.2 percent return so far this year, was hit by a $759 million withdrawal Thursday, the biggest one-day outflow among U.S.-listed ETFs, and the most since September 2009.

“The volume data show this was likely one big investor, who is unnerved by Japan’s recent shakiness and wants out before it gets worse,” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, referring to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s election defeat Sunday that calls into question the economic reform agenda.