Tag - boj

 
 

BOJ

Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Wednesday that new U.S. tariffs could have a large impact on trade activities among nations, depending on their size and the area they cover.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025
U.S. tariffs could have big impact on global trade, BOJ chief says
Gov. Kazuo Ueda also underlined the potential of such tariffs affecting households and business sentiment, which would go on to influence overall spending.
A Bank of Japan rate hike in May would likely be too early given the need to assess the impact of upcoming U.S. tariffs and ongoing wage talks, Kazuya Shimba, Secretary General of the Democratic Party for the People, said on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 2, 2025
A May BOJ hike would be too early given tariffs and wages, DPP says
Most economists see the next increase in borrowing costs coming in June or July, but many have said a May hike is possible.
The Bank of Japan's tankan survey indicates that large business are still positive on their prospects.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 1, 2025
Japanese businesses maintain optimism ahead of looming tariff storm
In the BOJ's latest tankan survey, the headline index for big manufacturers was 12, which indicates confidence in the business outlook.
Some market participants predict that benchmark 10-year borrowing costs won’t climb as sharply as the fiscal year that ended Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 1, 2025
Japan confronts biggest bond loss globally as BOJ rate hikes upend market
The past year marked a sixth straight year of losses for Japan’s sovereign debt as the central bank raises rates while its other counterparts elsewhere are cutting them.
Factory output in February marked the fastest gain since March last year thanks to strong demand before the U.S. implements new tariffs on autos and auto parts.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 31, 2025
Japan production rises most in 11 months ahead of new U.S. tariffs
Factory output increased in February by 2.5% from January, the first advance in four months and marking the fastest gain since March last year.
According to the internal affairs ministry on Friday, consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 2.4% in March from a year earlier as inflation in processed food accelerated.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 28, 2025
Tokyo inflation exceeds forecasts, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
The leading indicator for nationwide inflation is likely to keep BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda mulling over the right timing for further rate hikes.
Junko Koeda, a new member on the Bank of Japan's policy board, holds her inaugural news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 27, 2025
BOJ’s newest board member avoids sending signal on timing of next rate hike
Junko Koeda's remarks are likely to keep market speculation alive over the odds of a rate change at the next meeting.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks at the central bank's headquarters on March 19.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 26, 2025
BOJ to keep raising benchmark rate if outlook is met, Ueda tells parliament
The central bank governor noted that while there are pockets of weakness, “the economy is recovering moderately.”
Yields on Japan's 10-year government bonds have risen at a fast pace since the Bank of Japan ended its negative-rate policy last year and started to tighten.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 25, 2025
Japan bond rout signals era of ultralow rates might really be over  
For the first time in 16 years, yields on Japanese 10-year government bonds have jumped 50 basis points since November to above 1.5%.
Masamichi Koike, head of global markets business at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, says the Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025
Sumitomo Mitsui markets head sees BOJ rate at 30-year high
The Bank of Japan is likely to increase the policy rate to 1% this year from the current 0.5% as long as the U.S. economy doesn’t falter, said Masamichi Koike.
Katsunori Tanaka, an ex-Goldman Sachs analyst who now heads hedge fund Ariake Capital, is betting big on Japan's smaller regional banks.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2025
Ex-Goldman analyst’s hedge fund reaps 300% returns on small Japan banks
Katsunori Tanaka spent years at Goldman Sachs scrutinizing Japan’s biggest banks. Now at Ariake Capital, he obsesses over much smaller regional lenders.
Citizens’ holdings of cash in the three months ended in December was down 3.4% from a year earlier in the biggest drop in the data going back to 1998.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 21, 2025
Japan’s households slash cash at record pace as inflation bites
The decline mostly likely reflects the wider adoption of cashless consumption as well as a rise in nominal consumer spending due to inflation.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda speaks during a news conference in January in Tokyo.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 19, 2025
Bank of Japan holds steady at 0.5% as trade war escalates and inflation rises
The move was widely expected, with economists unanimous in seeing back-to-back rate increases as unlikely from the central bank, which made one in January.
Yields on Japanese government bonds have climbed to the highest since 2006 as traders expect the Bank of Japan to keep hiking interest rates this year while peers from the U.S. to Australia ease monetary policy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 18, 2025
Pimco takes profit on Japan bond trade as interest rates rise
The American investment management firm has turned "overall neutral” on Japanese government bonds.
Bank of Japan headquarters building in February. In January, the BOJ voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25%, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
BUSINESS / Markets
Mar 17, 2025
Bank of Japan unlikely to raise rates this week as trade war intensifies
The central bank voted to raise its short-term policy rate to 0.5% from 0.25% in January, taking it to the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis.
One year on from the Bank of Japan's historic rate hike, the biggest winners are the banks.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 17, 2025
Banks boom and shoppers scrimp a year after Japan’s rate pivot
Higher borrowing costs are also fueling a political battle over how the government can rein in its outlays.
A worker keeps a tally of wages Wednesday in Tokyo at the head office of UA Zensen, Japan's largest industrial trade union that represents workers mostly at small and medium-sized firms.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 14, 2025
Japan’s unions win largest pay hike in more than three decades
Some 760 affiliated unions under the trade union federation Rengo have so far secured an average pay gain of 5.46% in ongoing annual wage negotiations.
Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda has indicated he has little problem with the recent rising yield trend.
BUSINESS
Mar 13, 2025
Shift in BOJ stance favors free market functioning over intervention
People familiar with the central bank's policy approach say the market should decide rates, and that investors need to get used to a world without yield curve control.
A Bloomberg survey said almost three quarters of Bank of Japan watchers who responded said that U.S. tariffs could exert enough of a drag on Japan’s economy to delay the central bank’s rate hike path.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 12, 2025
BOJ watchers see gradual rate hikes with higher terminal rate
Economists now anticipate the terminal rate to be 1.25%, up from 1% in the previous survey.
Kazuo Momma, a former executive director in charge of monetary policy at the Bank of Japan, says June is the favored option for the central bank's next rate hike.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 11, 2025
BOJ’s next rate hike likely in June, former executive says
Kazuo Momma, a former executive director in charge of monetary policy, says the central bank is likely to move roughly every six months to maintain expectations.

Longform

Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone.
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan