Bank of Japan
Bank of Japan Modifies Policy but Characterizes such as “Furthr Effective and Sustainable Monetary Easing”
March 19, 2021
Long before the pandemic, the Bank of Japan had significantly modified the framework of its highly accommodative monetary easing in September 2016 and renamed the program Quantitative and Qualitative Easing with Yield Curve Control. Policy focus was shifted away from money growth to a more targeted effort to ensure a positive output gap, flatten the […] More
Tough Week for Central Bank Credibility
March 19, 2021
At Wednesday’s press conference, Fed Chairman Powell tried to assuage investor concerns about inflation and the possibility of an earlier Fed tightening than indicated in the central bank’s forward guidance. Markets didn’t quite believe the dovish tone and drove the 10-year Treasury yield from 1.63% then to a high yesterday of 1.76%. Tech stocks in […] More
Bank of Japan Policy Left Unchanged
January 21, 2021
The Bank of Japan‘s policy board chose to retain interest rates of -0.1% on overnight money and “around zero percent” on the 10-year JGB yield. The policy of Quantitative and Qualitative Easing with Yield Control will be maintained for as long as needed to achieve the elusive goal of sustainable 2.0% core CPI inflation, and […] More
Slew of U.S. Executive Orders and Central Bank Policy Reviews
January 21, 2021
President Biden’s inaugural address yesterday called for national unity to face down the many severe challenges now juxtaposed. 17 executive orders followed to reverse several polices of the Trump era. Contrary to warnings, inauguration day was free of domestic violence. U.S. stocks experienced their greatest advance on a presidential inauguration day since 1985, when Reagan […] More
Last Meaningful Week of 2020 Drawing to Close
December 18, 2020
Ahead of the approaching year-end holidays, this week saw a rush of central bank policy reviews and data releases, many coming a couple of days earlier in December than is customary in other months. Foreign exchange trading tends to lose some breadth and depth in the final weeks of December, making currency relationships prone to […] More
Dollar Rebound Continues While Equities Remain Exposed
October 29, 2020
There’s much to digest today: monetary policy reviews in Japan and Euroland, a first glimpse of U.S. 3Q growth, Covid lockdowns in France and Germany, and latest U.S. political developments as election campaign enters final days. The dollar strengthened overnight by another 1.4% versus the peso, 1.3% against the Australian dollar, 0.8% relative to the […] More
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
