Chart 9  Economic and Price Developments after the Introduction of Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) Corporate Profits and Business Fixed Investment  Exchange Rates and Stock Prices 130  thous.yen  yen/U.S.dollar Yen/U.S.dollar (left scale)  19  120 Nikkei 225 Stock Average (right scale)  110  21  17 15  100  13  90  11  80  Introduction of QQE  70 CY10  9 7  11  12  13  14  15  16  Unemployment Rate 5.5  85 80 75  Ratio of current profits to sales (left scale) Private non-residential investment (SNA, real, right scale)  12  13  14  15  70 65 60  16  Nominal Wages and Prices  s.a., %  3  y/y % chg.  2  5.0  1  4.5  0  4.0  -1  3.5  -2  3.0 2.5 CY 10  s.a., ann., tril.yen  s.a., % 6.5 6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 11 CY10  Hourly cash earnings CPI (all items less fresh food and energy)  -3 11  12  13  14  15  16  -4 CY10  11  12  13  14  15  16  Sources: Bloomberg; Ministry of Finance; Cabinet Office; Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Hence, this hypothesis holds, while a number of costs are rising, firms are working hard to find offsetting savings and absorbing some of the impact in their margins. It might be argued that this price discipline coming from international trends will persist, as the emergence of China and India continues.