JN BOJ Outlook Report

The Bank of Japan is expected to detail plans to taper its huge bond buying on Wednesday and debate whether to raise interest rates, signalling its resolve to steadily unwind a decade of massive monetary stimulus. The decision comes as the U.S. Federal Reserve looks to cut interest rates, possibly as early as September, reversing an aggressive rate-hike cycle that drove up the dollar and caused a painful yen sell-off for Japan. At the two-day meeting ending on Wednesday, the BOJ will decide on a quantitative tightening (QT) plan that ...

It's time to start the clock on the Bank of Japan decision. There is no set time for the BOJ but we are expecting today's decision in the 0230-0330 GMT range, so the watch will start in about 35 minutes. The previous BOJ decision was announced at 0334 GMT, which is at the late end of the range. The decision was a historic one as it was the first hike in 17 years. There is a precedent for policy changes coming in later than unchanged moves so that may be a hint as we watch the minutes tick by.

Core inflation in Japan's capital slowed for a second month in April to fall below the central bank's 2% target, data showed on Friday, complicating its decision on how soon to raise interest rates. The reading comes just hours ahead of the conclusion of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting, where the board is set to keep interest rates steady and produce fresh quarterly inflation projections through early 2027. The core consumer price index in Tokyo, a leading indicator of nationwide figures, increased 1.6% in April from a ...

The Bank of Japan may raise interest rates three more times even after last month’s historic hike, according to Pacific Investment Management Co. “This is really, from our standpoint, sort of the beginning of the adjustment of monetary policy in Japan rather than the end game,” said Sachin Gupta, a portfolio manager who helps oversee more than $40 billion in assets at Pimco and is underweight Japan bonds. While some market participants are expecting another half point or so of hikes this year, “we think there is a possibility they go ...

The Bank of Japan on Friday is set to project inflation will stay near its 2 per cent target in coming years and signal its readiness to raise interest rates from near-zero, in hope of keeping yen bears from pushing the currency to fresh 34-year lows. Recent threats of intervention by Japanese authorities have failed to arrest the yen's slide against the dollar to levels unseen since 1990, adding to headaches for policymakers worried about the hit to consumption from rising living costs. The yen's falls are driven by receding ...

Yen traders are bracing themselves for a redux of September 2022, when Japan intervened in the market to prop up the ailing currency in the wake of a central bank decision that reaffirmed accommodative monetary policy. With the yen already much weaker than it was then, and US interest rates unlikely to come down anytime soon, the mere lack of any hawkish comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Friday may be enough to push the currency toward a possible inflection point. Based on an analysis of comments from the Masato ...