Bank of Japan
Equities Fall Even as Central Banks Commit to Maintaining Low Interest Rates
September 17, 2020
Share prices in Asia closed down 1.6% in Hong Kong, 1.2% in South Korea, 0.8% in Taiwan and India, 0.7% in Japan and 0.4% in China and Indonesia. Equities in Europe so far today have dropped 1.2% in Italy, 0.9% in France, 0.8% in Germany and Spain, and 0.5% in the U.K.. The dollar recovered […] More
Bank of Japan Policy Settings Unchanged… New Forecasts Released
July 15, 2020
The metrics of the Bank of Japan’s quantitative and qualitative easing with yield curve control were not changed at the latest monetary policy review. Since September 2016, the short-term policy rate target has been -0.1%, and the target for the 10-year JGB yield has been around zero percent. The BOJ continues to inject liquidity on […] More
Two Competing Covid Narratives
July 15, 2020
As is the case on so many matters, faith and reason are clashing in how psychology is being affected by the coronavirus news. This week at least, faith — in this case optimism generated by favorable reports regarding a British vaccine in testing — is overriding the reality of accelerating trends in the virus’ spread […] More
Policy Support Overriding Covid-19 and Geopolitical Concerns at Least for Now
June 16, 2020
The weakness of stock markets early Monday dramatically reversed direction when the Federal Reserve announced an expansion of its corporate bond purchases. That turnaround extended overnight into trading in the Pacific Rim, where markets closed up 4.9% in Japan, 5.3% in South Korea, 3.9% in Australia, 2.4% in Hong Kong, 2.0% in Singapore, 1.8% in […] More
Bank of Japan Board Holds Emergency Session
May 22, 2020
The Bank of Japan held an emergency unscheduled policy Board meeting that lasted just under an hour and did not change the the short-term policy interest rate of -0.1% or the 10-year JGB yield target of around zero percent. However, officials did unveil a new lending facility for small to mid-sized firms and moved out […] More
Provocations by Chinese National People’s Congress and Special Central Bank Meetings in Japan and India
May 22, 2020
China’s government has decided to crack down on Hong Kong dissonance with a series of new security laws. Protesters will have fewer liberties and will be punished more severely. Hong Kong’s stock market plunged 5.6% in response. At China’s National People’s Congress, the tradition of setting an annual growth target was abandoned in a sign […] More
Enhancement Approved of Bank of Japan Monetary Easing
April 27, 2020
Normally a 2-day deliberation, the BOJ Board’s meeting was completed in a single 3-hour 1-minute session. The eye-catching change at this month’s policy review was the shift to unlimited JGB purchases in order to ensure against any unforeseen rise of the 10-year yield above the target of around zero percent. Such a change had been […] More
Softer Dollar as Investor Risk Appetite of Improves
April 27, 2020
The dollar opened the new week on a down note, sliding 1.0% against the Australian dollar, 0.8% relative to the kiwi, 0.5% vis-a-vis the peso and sterling, 0.3% against the euro, and 0.2% versus the yen and loonie. Gold is little changed. The main financial market move today has been a 17.4% dive in West […] More
Bank of Japan Addresses Liquidity Squeeze With Several Policy Changes but Stops Short of Cutting Interest Rates Further
March 16, 2020
The Bank of Japan held an emergency Board meeting that lasted roughly two hours and then announced a number of actions clearly motivated by the approaching corporate fiscal yearend on March 31st. Unlike central banks in the U.S., South Korea, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Macau, Japanese officials did not cut their targeted interest rates […] More
Bank of Japan Leaves Policy Settings Unchanged
January 21, 2020
This month’s Bank of Japan meeting of the Policy Board concluded with no change in policy settings and the release of the quarterly Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices which includes a perplexing mix of upgraded growth forecasts but downgraded estimates of future core inflation. The announcement of no policy change after four hours and […] More
