JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF

BBJP

Market cap $14.9B

The Nikkei 225 falls to 49,303 as rate-hike odds for December 19 approach 80%. Electronics, pharma, and industrials lead declines as liquidity expectations tighten.

JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF tracks the Morningstar Japan Target Market Exposure Index and provides exposure to 190 Japanese stocks, most of which are giant and large caps. BBJP has been taking share from its larger peer EWJ, and we examine what is driving this. Despite BBJP's advantages against EWJ, its valuations are not cheap when measured against developed markets.

Nikkei closes at 51,063, extending gains for a second session. Manufacturing confidence hits a four-year high as exports strengthen.

ETFs that buy Japanese stocks were rallying Monday, adding to their surge this year, after the weekend election of Sanae Takaichi to lead Japan's Liberal Democratic Party put her on track to become the country's next prime minister.

Solid growth and ongoing shareholder-friendly reforms are driving Japanese equity gains, keeping us overweight. We see the AI theme playing out globally.

I prefer BBJP over EWJ for its lower expense ratio and similar sector exposures, making it a more efficient Japan ETF choice. Tariff risks threaten Japan's export-heavy sectors, especially autos and industrials, despite some natural hedging benefits from an also weakening Yen. These natural hedging benefits are affected by the significant US exposure in geographic mixes, but also the likelihood of harsher competition in remaining markets under reconfigured trade flows.

As the global private equity industry took tentative steps toward recovery in 2024, Japan raced ahead. The value of private equity investment in Japan jumped nearly 41% over the prior-year total in 2024, far outpacing the 25% year-over-year gain in global private equity deal value, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

BBJP is a good way to track Japan's markets. Its sector mix is different from what you see in the US. It's cheap and has outperformed other notable large Japan proxies.

Today's data were a mixed bag, but the Bank of Japan will pay more attention to the sharp rise in Tokyo's inflation. Tokyo consumer prices rose more than expected to 2.6% YoY (vs 2.2% in July, 2.3% market consensus).

The “real” policy rate is massively negative, with the new policy rate of 0.25% far below Core CPI of 2.6%. When QT reaches about ¥3 trillion per month in 2026, it would represent a reduction of its JGB holdings of about 0.5% per month.