Bank of Japan
Many Data to Absorb Plus Bank of Japan Finally Modifies Yield Curve Control Parameters
July 28, 2023
At this month’s scheduled Board meeting, Bank of Japan policymakers sent a mixed message, on the one hand stressing “the Bank needs to patiently continue with monetary easing under Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) with Yield Curve Control” but also at last tweaking the rules surrounding its long-term interest rate target with the assertion […] More
Bank of Japan Unanimously Holds its Ground
June 16, 2023
The Bank of Japan’s Board decision not to change policy settings at this week’s now-completed two-day scheduled review was made unanimously. Previously chronic dissenters on the Board have departed as a result of a recent shuffling that also coincided with retiring governor Haruhiko Kuroda being replaced by Kazuo Ueda. In press conference Q&A, Ueda stressed […] More
Bank of Japan Remains Out of Step with Other Central Banks
June 16, 2023
In a week when the European Central Bank tightened its stance, the Federal Reserve paused but signaled more tightening in the future, and the Bank of Japan reaffirmed a need to maintain its ultra-accommodative stance known as quantitative and qualitative easing with yield curve control, the dollar has risen 1.1% against the yen but also […] More
The Bank of Japan’s First Board Meeting of Governor Ueda’s Stewardship
April 28, 2023
Governor Ueda did not initiate a clean break away from his predecessor’s policy, retaining a short-term interest rate of -0.1%, an target of around zero percent for the 10-year JGB yield, with a 0.5 percentage point daily buffer, and a commitment to more stimulus if and when such is deemed necessary to keep an eventual […] More
More Banking Uncertainty
March 20, 2023
The share price of First Republic Bank plunged 32.8% on March 17, and over the weekend Swiss authorities arranged for UBS to acquire Suisse Bank. Market expectations of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision this Wednesday range from an increase of only 25 basis points to no change at all in the federal funds target. […] More
Bank of Japan Stays the Course
January 18, 2023
Investors had assumed that last month’s doubling of the daily cap on the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to 0.50% was not, as then claimed, a mere technical tweak of the policy of yield curve control meant to enhance market functionality but rather an initial start to exiting the policy altogether. This month’s BOJ policy […] More
In December The Bank of Japan Surprised Markets with a Policy Tweak; Failure to Tweak Further This Month Also Caught Investors by Surprise
January 18, 2023
Investors had assumed that last month’s doubling of the daily cap on the 10-year Japanese government bond yield to 0.50% was not, as then claimed, a mere technical tweak of the policy of yield curve control meant to enhance market functionality but rather an initial start to exiting the policy altogether. This month’s BOJ policy […] More
Bank of Japan Perceived to Be Testing Exit Strategy Despite Denials
December 20, 2022
At the last scheduled Bank of Japan policy review in 2022 and with Governor Kuroda’s decade-long tenure approaching its April 2023 end, the Board decided to double the allowable daily trading corridor of the 10-year JGB yield from +/-0.25 to plus or minus 0.50 percentage points around a central target of “around zero percent.” The […] More
Japanese Surprise
December 20, 2022
At the last scheduled Bank of Japan policy review in 2022 and with Governor Kuroda’s decade-long tenure approaching its April 2023 end, the Board decided to double the allowable daily trading corridor of the 10-year JGB yield from +/-0.25 to plus or minus 0.50 percentage points around a central target of “around zero percent.” The […] More
Marking Time Ahead of Powell’s Press Conference and Amid Whiffs of Possible Change
November 2, 2022
Another 75-basis point Federal Reserve interest rate hike appears highly likely today and is discounted in the marketplace. Investors are focused on how monetary policy will evolve afterward, as hints of smaller increases from December have been floated. The Fed announcement arrives at 18:00 GMT, but a macroeconomic forecast update isn’t scheduled until next month’s […] More
