Tag - boj

 
 

BOJ

Toshinori Yashiki, deputy director-general at the Financial Services Agency, urged lenders to pay particular attention to highly-leveraged borrowers.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2024
Japan regulator will probe risks to banks from higher rates
The Bank of Japan is expected to make its first rate hike since 2007 within a few months, raising the possibility that borrowers will struggle with higher interest payments.
BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda enters the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 23, 2024
BOJ stands pat on policy as quake's economic impact remains unclear
Observers are watching for when the BOJ will start exiting negative rates, amid growing expectations it will likely seek normalization this year.
Projections for Japan's primary balance are presented at a meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on Monday.
BUSINESS
Jan 22, 2024
Japan’s baseline forecasts show government missing budget goal
The primary balance is projected to be around minus 0.4% in fiscal year 2025.
Japan's core inflation stayed above the central bank's 2% target in December but slowed for a second straight month, reinforcing expectations it will be in no hurry to phase out its massive monetary stimulus.
BUSINESS
Jan 19, 2024
Japan’s slowing inflation supports case for BOJ to wait longer
Growth in consumer prices excluding fresh food slowed to 2.3% in December from a year earlier.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo. None of 51 surveyed economists expects the central bank to raise its negative interest rate this month, with two-thirds forecasting a rate hike by April.
BUSINESS
Jan 17, 2024
Polled economists all see BOJ holding in January after quake
None of 51 surveyed economists expects the central bank to raise its negative interest rate this month, with two-thirds forecasting a rate hike by April.
At stake in this year's spring negotiations between trade unions and large Japanese firms, analysts say, is whether wages will rise far enough to ignite the sustainable inflation that policymakers consider a prerequisite for ending negative interest rates.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2024
Japan's top business lobby calls for worker pay raises above inflation
The call sets the tone for annual wage talks that may pave the way for the Bank of Japan to exit its ultraeasy monetary policy.
Japan's input inflation was flat in December, the weakest showing in almost three years.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Japan’s input inflation flatlines for weakest result since 2021
Input prices were unchanged last month from a year earlier, the weakest showing in almost three years as the yen’s recent gains helped cap import costs.
Stronger annual wage negotiation results are likely to pave the way for the Bank of Japan to end its negative interest rate by this spring, a former BOJ official says.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2024
Wage gains of 4% would pave way for BOJ rate hike, ex-official says
Market participants are monitoring annual wage talks closely as they may be a decisive factor in prompting Japan's central bank to end the world’s last negative rate.
The Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance headquarters in Tokyo. The insurer isn't interested in buying Japan’s superlong sovereign bonds until yields start rising.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 16, 2024
Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance to avoid Japan sovereign bonds for now
Japanese life insurers are the main buyer of bonds due in more than 10 years and typically increase purchases toward the end of the fiscal year.
Former finance ministry official Michio Saito says Japanese long-term yields won’t climb much beyond 1% even if the Bank of Japan revises its yield curve control program.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 15, 2024
Mr. JGB says end of BOJ’s negative rate won’t set yields on fire
Yields won’t keep shooting up after the initial jump as the central bank will still be offering support for the economy, says Nomura's Michio Saito.
Monitors at a foreign exchange dealer show the Nikkei Stock Average rising above 35,000 during morning trading in Tokyo on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 11, 2024
Nikkei breaches 35,000 for the first time in 34 years
Wall Street's tech-driven gains and a weakening of the yen give Japanese stocks a boost for third day in a row.
The yen's exchange rate against the dollar on Wednesday. The yen declined from ¥103 against the dollar in 2020 to as little as ¥151 in late 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 11, 2024
Is a weak yen good for Japan’s economy?
The yen's fast depreciation is boosting overseas investment and sectors like tourism, but could also trigger inflation. In response, the BOJ should raise interest rates.
The Bank of Japan is fully prepared to put an end to the world’s last negative interest rate, an ex-official has said.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 11, 2024
BOJ fully prepared to end negative rate, likely in April: ex-official
"They are just waiting for one last push from one or two economic data,” said former board member Makoto Sakurai.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference at the central bank's headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 11, 2024
OECD urges Bank of Japan to gradually raise interest rates
The central bank should thus continue efforts to make the yield curve control more flexible, the organization said.
Japanese workers' real wages kept shrinking for a 20th month in November, raising fresh alarm for the sustainability of the country's economic recovery as firms enter the period of annual pay negotiations with labor unions.
BUSINESS
Jan 10, 2024
Japan’s slower wage growth adds to reasons for BOJ to hold
Nominal cash earnings for workers rose 0.2% from the previous year, decelerating sharply from a 1.5% increase in October, the labor ministry said.
The yen extended gains Tuesday after the Bank of Japan indicated it will reduce monthly buying of superlong government bonds.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 9, 2024
Yen rises after BOJ indicates cut in superlong bond buying
The BOJ bought ¥150 billion ($1.04 billion) of 10-to-25 year debt on Tuesday.
Consumer price gains in Tokyo slowed for a second month in December.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 9, 2024
Tokyo inflation slows as thrifty consumers curb some outlays
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.1% in the capital, decelerating from 2.3% in November.
A damaged vehicle under a collapsed house following an earthquake in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Tuesday. Speculation that the Bank of Japan might shift its policy this month is receding, as the central bank has to assess the adverse impact from the Noto Peninsula disaster on the economy.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 5, 2024
Yen falls as earthquake raises bar for BOJ to end negative rates
While speculation about a January tweak is receding, many still expect an end to negative rates in April, or later in 2024.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda gives a news conference after a policy meeting at BOJ headquarters in Tokyo on Dec. 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 31, 2023
BOJ likely to finally seek normalization 2024
A turn in Japan's economic tide is in view as the Bank of Japan signals readiness to wind down its aggressive monetary stimulus.
The Bank of Japan's headquarters in Tokyo. In 2023, the dollar surged from around ¥130 at the start of the year to above ¥151.90 in mid-November as the gap between U.S. and Japanese interest rates widened on the back of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rapid rate hikes to curb inflation.
BUSINESS / Markets
Dec 30, 2023
Dollar could fall to around ¥130 in 2024, analysts say
Six of eight analysts predict that the lower end of the greenback's range against the yen next year will be between ¥130 and ¥135.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?