The Bank of Japan is meeting today and tomorrow, and we'll get the announcement on Friday (22 May 2015).
- BOJ watchers will know there is no scheduled time for the announcement. but to expect it sometime in the 0230-0330GMT time window.
- The latest Bloomberg survey has 100% expecting no change in policy from the bank. Sounds right to me.
There is some chatter that the Bank may upgrade their economic forecast:
- BOJ hasn''t upgraded its outlook in 2 years
- The Bank says the Japanese economy continues a "moderate recovery trend"
- Note that yesterday's better GDP data showed signs of a rebound in consumer spending. The Board will be wary, though, some are of the view that consumer spending recovery still lacks breadth
Note, the Japanese government has already raised its economic assessment. ... in March, for the first time in eight months
If the bank does upgrade the assessment it may diminish the likelihood of more monetary stimulus
USD/JPY is attracting a bit of attention. Some are saying it may have broken out to the topside, or is close to doing so:
- Deutsche Bank: USD/JPY to 125 by end of the year
- USD/JPY technical analysis - Citi goes long
- What do you do when the market has you by the balls?
