The Bank of Japan July meeting was just last week and they are out with a version of the minutes already. Impressive!
Headline points, Via Reuters, Bloomberg :
- Will take longer than expected to reach the 2% inflation target as commodity prices and inflation expectations not firm
- Main cause of weak prices is sluggish consumption making it difficult for firms to raise prices
- There is some way to go before the labour market tightening leads to rise in wages and prices
- Desirable to have in-depth discussion about whether appropriate to continue ETF purchases
- Should set a new JGB target of 45tln yen, then reduce
- 10-year target range should not be taken so strictly
- Repeated delays in price target could undermine BOJ credibility
- Additional monetary easing not needed, upward momentum in prices is intact
- Switching to a 0.1% rate applied to excess reserves and abolishing YCC could contribute to financial system stability
I bolded two of those points - that is big news ... (market should read those as yen positive)
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The meeting was an 'on hold' affair:
- There was no change to policy: BOJ announce: No change to monetary policy, upgrade economic outlook
- From Kuroda's presser: More from Kuroda (3): It's important for prices to rise in tandem with wages
- It was also a farewell party: BOJ says goodbye to two persistent dissenters
- The squidsters were happy: Goldman Sachs on the BOJ & Kuroda - 'exit from QQE now looking more remote'
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This is the 'Summary of Opinions'
- It precedes the Minutes
- We won't get those for a number of weeks (September 26 if you'd like to market your calendar)
- The 'Summary' is sort of a Minutes 'Lite', a good guide to the discussion that took place
