BoJ Governor Ueda (post-meeting press conference) says must patiently continue monetary easing, will not hesitate to ease policy further as needed
YIELD CURVE CONTROL:
- Appropriate to enhance sustainability of easing.
- Today's decision was aimed at making YCC policy more sustainable.
- Control of yields may impact volatility.
- Long-term rates could move beyond the 0.5% cap.
- Will conduct consecutive fixed rate purchases if long-term yields exceed 1.0% to curb the yield jump.
- Not expecting long-term yield to rise to 1.0%, but will consider appropriate steps if interest rates breach 1.0%.
- Will respond to the speed and level of long-term rates if they move beyond 0.5%.
- Will fall behind the curve if BoJ tries to respond to excessive interest rate rise at the time.
- Have expanded room for ability to deal with upward move in interest rates.
- BoJ created the 0.5-1.0% frame in addition to the +/- 0.5% to respond to future risks.
- Says +/- 0.5% is appropriate for longer-term yield level under current economic and price trends.
- Says 1.0% is defined as a 'just-in-case cap'.
- BoJ wants markets to determine longer-term rates, but there should be limits.
- Absolute YCC at 0.5% could have enhanced both effects and side-effects of YCC.
- Cannot say whether the BoJ's JGB buying would decrease due to today's decisions.
INFLATION:
- Stable inflation with wage growth not seen yet.
- Signs of change are emerging from companies' price-setting behaviour.
- There is still distance to achieve 2% inflation target; no chanfe to judgement that achieving 2% inflation goal is distant.
- Drastic changes to FY23 price outlook suggests the outlook in April was possibly underestimated.
- Ueda says he is not confident about the rebound in prices.
- Downside risks to prices are not negligible - weaker global economy and China pose not so optimistic outlook.
- 2% inflation has already been achieved for some time, but BoJ is not confident about the future rebound, so decided to maintain monetary easing.
- Jump in FY price outlook means that there has been some progress towards inflation goals.
- Policy tweak is possible even if there are no major upward revisions to 24-25 price outlook if the BoJ's confidence improves.
RATES:
- There is still some distance until rate hike from negative short-term interest rates.
FOREX:
- Says BoJ is not targeting FX levels.
- Currency market volatility included as target in today's measures.
ECONOMY:
- Says economic uncertainty very high.
- Will flexibly respond to uncertainties in the economy.
- If risks materialise, it would be too late to respond.
GENERAL MARKET REMARKS:
- Market is calming down relatively.
- Expectations for US economy to achieve soft-landing have been rising.
- Closely watching rising real estate markets.
STANCE:
- It is appropriate to maintain strong monetary easing.
- Will not hesitate to ease policy further as needed.
- When asked if the BoJ's policy was biased towards tightening, Ueda said this was not the case.
- Says today's decision to enhance flexibility is not that different to a change in policy.
- Not aiming for policy normalisation, rather making YCC more sustainable.
Analysis details (07:33)
- The BoJ kept monetary policy settings unchanged but announced it will guide YCC more flexibly with fixed rate operations for 10yr JGB to be conducted at 1.0% (prev. 50bps). Recap on the decision and statement here.
28 Jul 2023 - 07:33- Fixed IncomeData- Source: Newswires
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