Headlines:
- Japanese yen stays under pressure post-BOJ
- BOJ governor Ueda: Little chance for us to say 'we will change policy' next month
- BOJ governor Ueda: Will not hesitate to take additional easing measures if necessary
- We are still not foreseeing sustainable, stable inflation with enough confidence - Ueda
- ECB's Villeroy: We will not raise interest rates anymore
- French inflation to fall below 2% in 2025 - Bank of France
- Eurozone November final CPI +2.4% vs +2.4% y/y prelim
- UK December CBI trends total orders -23 vs -35 prior
- Japan government maintains overall assessment of the economy in December
Markets:
- GBP leads, JPY lags on the day
- European equities slightly higher; S&P 500 futures up 0.2%
- US 10-year yields down 5.3 bps to 3.903%
- Gold up 0.1% to $2,028.93
- WTI crude down 0.3% to $72.26
- Bitcoin up 0.6% to $42,873
It was a relatively quiet session as all the focus and attention on the day is on the Bank of Japan. And once again, the Japanese central bank disappointed yen bulls as they stuck to the status quo today.
Ueda reaffirmed that they will want to wait on the spring wage negotiations next year before committing to anything and that saw the yen fall across the board. USD/JPY rose from around 143.60 to 144.95 before falling back to 144.20-30 levels now, still up 1% on the day.
The yen drop comes amid a fall in JGB yields and despite a decline in Treasury yields on the day as well. 10-year yields on the latter are down 5 bps now ahead of US trading, weighing slightly on the dollar.
EUR/USD is up 0.4% to 1.0970 while GBP/USD is up 0.7% to 1.2735, at the highest levels for the day currently. Meanwhile, AUD/USD is up 0.5% to 0.6737 and NZD/USD up 0.5% to 0.6244 as the antipodean currencies are holding up amid a better risk mood as well.
European stocks are slightly higher while S&P 500 futures are up 0.2% after a more tepid start to earlier in the session.