Today we get the Bank of Japan Summary of Opinions from the December meeting. The summary is very useful, it precedes the meeting minutes by many weeks.
If you've been on an extended holiday and you haven't seen the BOJ December decision, it was a doozy. Link to the statement, impact, and reverberations through markets that day:
- ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: BOJ pivot sends the yen rocketing higher across board
- ForexLive European FX news wrap: Yen flying high after BOJ policy tweak
- Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Yen hits new highs as the BOJ fallout continues
In the weeks and months leading up to the December meeting Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda had been telling everyone that the expansion of the tolerance band around the YCC target to +/-0.5% from +/-0.25% was not under consideration. It'd be just like a rate hike he would say, and the BOJ did not want that. At his press conference following the announcement Kuroda than said ‘The move is not a rate hike’. Sheesh.
Some have described the band expansion as a 'tweak' to policy. And yeah, it was. It was only very minor. But it does serve as a heads-up to likely policy change in the year to come. Kuroda's term expires in April of 2023 and the new governor, whoever that might be, is expected to reach a new agreement with the government that'll allow for some lessening of ultra-easy BOJ policy.
The Summary today will be keenly eyed for more information from the Bank on the band expansion. Its due at 2350 GMT. I won't be around much this week due to the holiday season, but I'll be around for that!
